Chris Huhne

Chris Huhne

In 2007, Chris Huhne lost the Liberal Democrat leadership contest by a margin of 511 votes to Nick Clegg; an unofficial check of Christmas postal votes that missed the election deadline showed that Huhne had enough votes for victory. Huhne could have been Deputy Prime Minister at this moment, yet now his political career is over for perverting the course of justice over claims that his ex-wife Vicky Pryce took speeding points on his behalf.

Huhne is now in the process of resigning from his Eastleigh seat, yet, having now accepted the charge, it is worth remembering what he said when he resigned from the Cabinet as Climate Change Secretary in 2012: 

“I am innocent of these charges and I intend to fight them in the courts and I am confident a jury will agree.” 

Huhne should be rightly slated, whether he’s a fellow Liberal Democrat or not. Not only has he lied in public whilst having a senior position in Cabinet, but his actions have soured his achievements in politics somewhat; the event in question happened ten years ago. On a Coalition note, it is another notorious addition to the list of departed Cabinet members (think David Laws, Liam Fox and Andrew Mitchell). Huhne was still being touted recently as a future Lib Dem leader, but a third crack at the top job is no longer possible.

Although elected as recently as 2005 with a wafer thin 568 majority, Huhne’s political career stretches back to an SDP candidacy in Reading-East in 1983, before serving as an MEP for South East England. 

With a resignation from his Eastleigh seat soon to follow, Huhne has left a power vacuum, and a potential bust up within the Coalition. The Tories finished a close second in 2010 on 39.3% of the vote, with Labour a distant third with 9.6%. A Lib Dem collapse in their share of the vote is inevitable, but even a ‘One Nation Labour’ surge would not be enough to stop the Tories winning the seat. 

However, Nigel Farage may yet run for UKIP, which could split the right-wing vote and allow the Lib Dems back in, whilst tactical voting from Labour voters in the constituency (an unlikely case of ‘holding their nose’ and voting Lib Dem) could defeat the Tories.

It seems a long time ago now since Huhne’s “calamity Clegg” moment in the 2007 leadership contest (type it into YouTube to see a Jon Sopel-instigated battle), but his absence from Cabinet, it has to be said, has deprived the Liberal Democrats of a strong voice against the Conservatives, which is vital for Party self-confidence and identity. He was shrewd in his analysis of the Tory rebels as the “Tea Party tendency”, and was an experienced member of the Party. Nevertheless, his actions should not go unpunished because of this, and it is surely arguable that the situation could have been considerably diminished had he accepted the necessary punishment back in 2003. 

On a side note, it narrows down the Lib Dem leadership field if and when Clegg goes. Tim Farron will be popular with the Party activists, whilst Vince Cable will appeal to the Party bigwigs. Could Simon Hughes try one last time, and might Ed Davey enter the fray?

I briefly met Chris Huhne at the train station when returning home from the 2012 Spring Conference in Gateshead. Needless to say, he wasn’t in a hurry.