Who Got Huhne?

Finally, after several months’ waiting, which involved significant parts of the Fourth Estate in speculation and rumour mongering at an advanced level, the announcement has been made that both Chris Huhne and ex-wife Vicky Pryce are to be charged with perverting the course of justice over a speeding offence going back to 2003 when Huhne was an MEP. Huhne has resigned from the Government.

So, now that Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has told everyone the news, the race is on to claim credit for getting Huhne, a hate figure of the right, as demonstrated by the engagement of sneer overdrive this morning by James “saviour of Western civilisation” Delingpole. But this is a pointless game, as the Sunday Times – part of the hated MSM – had the story, and the killer information.

That, though, has not stopped the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, who has clearly ordered his obedient hacks to claim the story for themselves. Just to make sure the readers get the point, the latest less than subtle headline tells that Huhne was “charged with lying to police”, while the piece claims prescience with “As the Mail revealed last week”. But the ST is at least mentioned.

No such modesty has been allowed to enter at the Guido Fawkes blog, where the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his tame gofer Henry Cole, the Laurel and Hardy of the blogosphere, have decided to celebrate the Huhne prosecution by trowelling on the brass neck and claiming that they had some kind of role in the process. They didn’t even merit a walk-on part.

And, as I pointed out last July, the two complaints made against Huhne by the less than dynamic duo – about his Parliamentary expenses – were both thrown out. But the deeply unpleasant Staines had doorstepped Huhne at one point, and this has been enough for the Fawkes blog to claim a scalp. After all, every other personal campaign they’ve run recently has thus far ended in failure.

But then, both left and right are in uncommon agreement for once, with the Mirror having an extended gloat, and their man Kevin Maguire talking of “Rhino-hide Huhne”. Every part of the political spectrum, and those who merely cheered from the sidelines while hoping their bets paid off (Staines needed some good fortune after blowing 500 notes calling David Laws’ resignation wrong), have claimed ownership.

Sadly, the fact of the matter is that it was the supposedly Dead Tree Press, in the shape of the Murdoch owned but not particularly party political Sunday Times, that did the work. Credit where credit’s due: Rupe’s upmarket troops done good.

[The Guido Fawkes blog’s year of abject failure is reviewed HERE]