Chris Huhne - is he getting his 'just desserts' or does anyone feel sorry for him?

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article here

I can't help but have a wry smile to myself. Will be interesting to see how this plays out in court. And I wonder what was in those emails that the Times were so keen to not release to the police.

What isn't clear yet is whether Vicky Pryce has the points on her licence.
If she does, is there ea suggestion that she was travelling in the car?

Hope he gets his come-uppance.
If she did collude back then, presumably she has now come to her senses with regards to what an arse he is?

The Cleggs are supporting her

If they've done what is alleged then I hope they are appropriately dealt with. I don't really understand why Vicky Pryce reported it though knowing that she could also be looking at a spell in prison.

It doesn't seem such a great crime or unusual to ask a partner to take your penalty points. It probably happened, and she exposed him just to embarrass and bring him down a peg or too. It looks to me like he's digging himself a bigger hole by denying that it happened.

I got a speeding ticket recently, (going 37 in 30 mph zone) and in the picture there was no denying I was driving the car! You could see the details of my coat collar and everything! So I assume they always take a good photo.

The OW. does look like a bloke though.

It may not seem like a great crime and, indeed, a £60 speeding fine and 3 points on the licence is not a big deal But lying to cover up even a minor crime is 'perverting the course of justice' and turns the whole thing into a far more serious offence where the usual penalty is a custodial sentence unless there are mitigating circumstances.

she's a bit mannish, that's for sure

If they're found guilty is it likely they'll go to prison? Is it not more likely they'll get fined, community service, something like that?

Maybe she thinks it's a price worth paying for fucking up his career.

Maybe she's making the whole thing up to wreck his career? But seeing as she was at a dinner in London that night it seems unlikely.

I don't feel sorry for him at all.

Apparently perverting the course of justice nearly always gets a jail sentence.

karetta - I don't think Vicky Pryce reported it. She spoke about it in an interview, and it was actually a Labour MP who formally reported it to the police.

Chippy - interesting to learn the Cleggs are supporting her, although until recently didn't she work closely with Vince Cable, so is presumably 'well in'?

He apparently landed at Stansted airport and his car was photographed speeding that night on a motorway near the airport - so clearly someone in the household was driving. He may also have had a large number of points and any more would have resulted in a ban hence his desire to dodge the bullet. I presume he'll get Nick Freeman on the case but a tricky one as he needs the ex to corroborate his story.

At Vicky Pryce was speaking at a dinner that evening - so it would have been pretty impossible for her to have picked him up.

*And

That's exactly the problem. It wasn't "just" a case of picking up 3 points and a fine - it would have taken him over the point limit and he would have lost his licence. Although, interestingly, he lost it anyway a few months later, for a different offence.

I would have thought that his ex-wife considers a short jail term/fine/community service a small price to pay for wiping the smile off his face. And I'm sure I read somewhere that he is alleged to have given her name as the driver without consulting her.

He's getting a £17000 pay-off for quitting the cabinet.

Don't particularly feel sorry for him.

"I would have thought that his ex-wife considers a short jail term/fine/community service a small price to pay for wiping the smile off his face"

Exactly!

She's been humiliated enough already with the affair.

i don't have an opinion about the man one way or another but i am glad this is being taken seriously, i would NEVER take points for somebody else and i can't believe some people take it so lightly, i think it sounds like the wife didn't realise how serious an offence it is... well hopefully now people do.

i won't say i've never gone over the speed limit, but i don't do it habitually and i have no points at all and if i got any i'd be far far more careful and make damn sure i didn't get any more.

speeding kills. or have we all forgotten that?

The sentence for this is mega if found guilty and she has put herself right in it too in order to get at him!

If his ex just coughs and says she did it (and presumably there are points on her licence to show it) then his proclamations of "proving his innocence" will sound so daft. He should just shut up and see how it pans out in court. He is incredibly sanctimonious though. Reminds me of Derek Nimmo.

He is a nasty cheating scumbag. i rather think it is karma or just desserts.

It is what he deserves and she must really hate him to put her own arse on the line. I think I would have been much sneakier in her position and just threatened him with it unless he resigned. Then he would have had to skulk off and people would have been gossiping about him for ages. Prison seems hardcore!

Hmm...I think Vicky Price's actions have been pretty idiotic, and purely out of revenge. Pitiful if you ask me. There are more important things than getting back at a cheating partner. By doing this she is potentially ending her own career, damaging his (though I would guess that his career will recover), possibly sending them both to jail...And I can imagine how their children are suffering from this...all because of jealousy and small-mindedness. Hell hath no fury and all that. Sad.

Of course her career has already been compromised due to her connection with him - she had to leave her job when he was appointed a Minister, as it was too close. So having made that sacrifice, and then found that she'd been deceived all along, I can understand her anger. There is a suggestion that she didn't know that he'd named her either, which makes it even worse.

"There are more important things than getting back at a cheating partner"

Like pointing out that a cabinet minister is guilty of a criminal offence which carries the potential of a prison sentence and that he is fundamentally untrustworthy?

Putting aside the recriminations about how he treated his ex-wife - after all there are two sides to every story, and none of us was there were we, so who are we to judge - I think it is a sad loss to the government that Huhne has had to leave. He was one of the few LibDems who actually had the nous to stand up to the Tories (esp slimy George Osborne) and was trying hard to make genuine progress with fighting climate change.

I think we'll be worse off without him in the cabinet.

(Not relevant, but I met him a few times through work just before he started his political career, and he came across as a very nice, unarrogant bloke, super intelligent)

"Like pointing out that a cabinet minister is guilty of a criminal offence which carries the potential of a prison sentence and that he is fundamentally untrustworthy?"

He has not been found guilty yet! He maintains he is innocent of the charges. Wouldn't surprise me if he was. This is all so clearly the wife's revenge. The Conservatives are no doubt loving it all.

Most of what he has actually said on the subject has been very carefully worded. Things like he "welcomes the investigation" and confident of "a line being drawn under it" and non-committal things like that.

I don't see this as a wife's revenge, even though she'd have plenty of grounds for wanting it. The likelihood of him driving the car as opposed to her is infinitely higher as far as I can see. Why would she implicate herself if the allegation was false?

And the CPS must have strong hopes of a conviction, otherwise they'd not have brought the charges. They had long enough to think about it. They'll know he'll bring in the topguns to defend his case, so they must have a robust case themselves.
So, we'll see.