Saturday 4th February

And now for a real political show trial – Chris Huhne, who until he joined the Government I had always liked in a way, is soon to be facing charges over perverting the course of justice, re: speeding points. And believe me the Law takes perverting the course of justice far more seriously than whatever the original offence may have been.  The whole edifice of Justice relies on people being truthful, and when they are found not to be, the whole panoply of the law is used against them.  Otherwise we might all think we could get away with lying, heaven forefend; the very idea. I bet he wishes now that he had simply taken the points and a possible ban way back in 2003.  It would all be over by now.  Strange how things you thought you had put behind you always return to bite you on the bottom.  But of course this is not really about speeding points or who took them, I mean who really cares about that, this is about integrity, with the added juice of a woman scorned. Not since Jeremy Thorpe have we had in a courtroom a Liberal politician having his integrity challenged.  And what on earth does Mr. Huhne think will be his defence; will he expect the jury to believe either his or his wife’s words over this charge, and she is on trial too for the same offence, so if she admits it, and he doesn’t what will that say about both of them.  I cannot in all honesty see anyone really believing him, and even if he is not actually found guilty, there will always be the whiff of dishonesty about him.  Of course, it is just possible that he is totally innocent and is now the victim of a scorned woman’s revenge.  Hard to really believe his former wife would go to such lengths purely out of revenge if there weren’t some fire behind the smoke.  She could have simply “kissed and told” her side of their marriage, maybe hinting at previous infidelities – you know, that sort of thing.  But how convenient for her that they had this little guilty secret between them! The fact that she, if Mr. Huhne is to be believed, has made the whole thing up only adds to the spice.  And now he is branded not only as a liar, but a cheat and a love-rat too.  Oh, how the mighty are fallen.  And of course let us not forget that he could so easily have become Leader of the Lib-Dems and Deputy Prime Minister too, now that would have been exciting.