Despite giving the Torygraph a straight answer to a gay question, the issue continues to Doggett him;

Is he gay? “The answer is no, as it happens, but if it was the case, which it isn’t, I hope that it would not be an issue.”

The 54 year-old bachelor has, he says, asked women to marry him and been turned down. That should obviously be the end of it. But the smart money has gone from Hughes onto Huhne, who is now neck-and-neck at the bookies with the former favourite. After Oaten many see raver Hughes as a risk.