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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have no sympathy with Chris Huhne

53 replies

greenfolder · 04/02/2013 23:18

And think that he should repay at least his last yeArs MP salary? He has lied for 10 years and has had a full years pay since being charged. Then he changes his plea at the last possible moment. All his colleagues seem to be expressing sympathy

What am I missing?

OP posts:
Stonefield · 04/02/2013 23:20

I agree with you, he's a despicable man. Good riddance, he's likely to get a prison sentence and rightly so.

ComposHat · 04/02/2013 23:42

No I have no sympathy for him and not much more for his ex-wife.

andubelievedthat · 04/02/2013 23:44

agreed, but he will be on the backbenches 4 a couple of years then be given a ministerial position, he will be contrite ,he will defer to the public ,but, he will rise again cos he is part of an elite club.we can only watch and wonder.(what to tell our children)

ComposHat · 04/02/2013 23:48

agreed, but he will be on the backbenches 4 a couple of years then be given a ministerial position,

He's resigned as an MP. I think that even Lazarus would struggle to make it back into cabinet.

Pedallleur · 05/02/2013 08:17

Never held Peter Mandelson back. Euro Commissioner and 2 Cabinet posts?

Gigondas · 05/02/2013 08:33

Afaik mandelson was in breach of code of conduct/ethics but didn't do anything criminal.

And no I have little sympathy with him .

Gigondas · 05/02/2013 08:34

Jeffrey archer and Jonathan aitken didn't make a comeback after serving time afaik.

Sugarice · 05/02/2013 08:36

Chris Huhne was brought down by his own monstrous ego.

I have no sympathy whatsoever, not only has he ruined his own career, he showed scant regard towards his then Wife pressing her to take the blame and he has caused huge anguish for his children, particularly his Son who is all over the press.

I hope he never comes back into a position of power where he is able to lecture the rest of us!

BlueberryHill · 05/02/2013 08:42

What will become of the millionaire businessman, my heart bleeds.

I feel sorry for his family, mixed feelings about his ex wife, it is awful for your husband to have an affair and have it played out across the media but she shouldn't have taken his speeding points.

I don't see how he can have a comeback in politics, with a criminal conviction and he is very likely to have a prison sentence. However Jeffrey
Archer has continued to write books and Jonathan Aitken discovered God.

Orwellian · 05/02/2013 08:48

YANBU. He epitomises all that is wrong with politicians these days. Self serving, greedy, immoral people who are obsessed with money and power and he was supposedly a Lib Dem!

I do feel sorry for his son though, who sounds like he has a better grounding of morals and more integrity in his little finger than his father has in his whole body.

Sugarice · 05/02/2013 08:49

Gigondas didn't Mandelson make a false declaration to his mortgage provider when buying that swanky house. That was criminal yet wasn't pursued sadly.

Goes to show how power can yield influence in high places. Angry

CogitoErgoSometimes · 05/02/2013 08:54

I've no sympathy either but don't see why he should pay back his salary. He did a very stupid thing relying on a woman keeping a secret who he subsequently went on to betray. Didn't affect his work as far as I know.

Gigondas · 05/02/2013 08:54

You are right sugarice- but as you say didn't get charged which is why I didn't remember.

I do feel very sorry for the son.

TheCatIsEatingIt · 05/02/2013 08:55

I agree with Cogito. I have no sympathy with him, but he's earnt his salary for doing his job. No connection.

VoiceofUnreason · 05/02/2013 08:59

I do feel sorry for the son.

I have no sympathy for Chris Huhne.

I have no sympathy for the wife either in regard to the case and will be disappointed if she gets off and he doesn't, because she knew what she was doing. I do have sympathy for her in regard to her husband's betrayal.

I seem to recall a thread only recently where a man was pressuring his wife to take his speeding points in AIBU and there were a lot of posters who felt she SHOULD take his points. Hopefully this case will show why no one should take anyone else's points or punishments.

hackmum · 05/02/2013 08:59

I feel a little bit sorry for him, but then only because I'm one of those people who feels sorry for practically everyone, however appalling.

I agree what he did was terrible: the original offence was pretty bad (69mph on a 50mph road), getting your wife to take the points is despicable, then lying to the press and police about it over the course of a year instead of just owning up is both cowardly and morally wrong. I suppose I feel a tiny bit sorry because of those texts his son sent him. I would hate if if my DD ever hated me that much.

trixymalixy · 05/02/2013 09:01

I have no sympathy either. I feel sorry for his son.

Lostonthemoors · 05/02/2013 09:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lurkedtoolong · 05/02/2013 09:07

I have no sympathy for him and I have no sympathy for his ex-wife. She was happy to take the points while they were married but when he cheated on her and publicly humiliated her like a bastard thought she would get her own back by creating a scandal in tawdry blogs by spilling the beans about accepting the points. They both committed criminal acts and should both be punished.

However I'm not sure why either of them should lose any salary, they both did their jobs. There's a nasty element in society at the moment where when people do wrong they are hounded and it is demanded that they are punished multiple times. They should be punished for the actual crimes committed not the public perception of politicians whipped up by a media baying for blood to hide their own misdemeanours.

BlueberryHill · 05/02/2013 09:14

Lostonthemoors, I think that there is always a need to think that, 'there but the grace of god', however... (You knew there would be a however). However this wasn't just one slip, it was a sucession of lies over a period of time right up to the courtroom door. Doing so, when he knew he was guilty and had a fair idea of the evidence against him, he has run up prosecution costs, most costs are incurred just prior to trial and at the trail. We pay for those costs.

I have conflicting thoughts about him receiving his salary over the past year, I believe in the principle that all are innocent until proven guilty vs there have been a lot of MPs convicted in the past year or so (usually on fraudulently claiming expenses). These MPs have not resigned until they were found guilty and have kept receiving their salary. I have real doubts about how effective they have been as an MP during that time. Would be interesting to see how many times Chris Huhne has spoken in Parliament or attended debates in the past year. The idea that you are innocent until proven guilty wins out but I have a low view of the MPs who have done this.

undercoverhousewife · 05/02/2013 09:20

YANBU

The argument for losing his salary is that he only had the job under false pretences - few people would have voted for him had they known he was dishonest (not just in the first place, over the speeding, but later over the blatant lying and persistent, extreme attempts to have the case thrown out whilst knowing he was guilty). Lots of other people would happily have had his job and earned the salary.

Yes, honesty absolutely has a bearing on how he does his job. We need our politicians to be honest as a very minimum - they have a position of immense power, influence, privilege and trust. Huhne abused that horribly. I at least hope he doesn't get the usual "leaving" pay - ? a year's pay after being an MP (not sure of the precise details but there is def a sop payment when MP's leave to recognise that they may have a period of being out of a job).

As a cyclist, I am also unsympathetic with him doing 69mph in a 50mph zone and then, not 2 weeks later, driving whilst on his mobile phone (which ironically cost him his licence anyway). That smacks of someone who is so selfish and puffed up as to think that their need to get somewhere quickly/ talk on the phone, outweighs other people's right to life (ie cyclists and pedestrians right not to be mown down).

Lostonthemoors · 05/02/2013 09:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhereYouLeftIt · 05/02/2013 10:45

He had nine points on his licence already, that a bit of a clue that you need to drive with more care. There's a bit of an arrogance, a sense of entitlement, in continuing to speed when you're in that position. Everything else cascaded from there, so yes, not just one mistake but a series of ever-increasing poor judgement.

My sympathy is for his family; and I'll include his wife as it would be in keeping for her to have been under intense pressure from him to bail him out over the speeding points. No sympathy for him whatsoever, he was willing to pervert the course of justice for the convenience of keeping his licence (he could have afforded taxis or even a driver).

Pendeen · 05/02/2013 10:48

A liar and a coward.

He should also be forced to re-take his driving test.

allgoingtoshitnow · 05/02/2013 11:09

The only lesson to take from this seems to be that in a divorce nothing is secret or sacred.

She gladly took the points while they were together, as many many people do, but then fucked him over with the fact when they split.

He screwed another woman, she screwed his life and career. Ouch.