Chris Huhne changes plea to guilty

[NicholasTeakozy]

BBC link here. I reckon that's the end of his political career then.

[claig]

Oh, I didn't realise that. But I bet he wishes he could turn the clock back and accept the 12 points. It is tragic to lose so much over something so small. But that is life. I hope he can learn from this challenge of life and rise stronger from it and do good for society in the future.

[AnyFucker]

"put pressure on" and force" is simply a matter of degree, is it not

if a son was accusing his father of "putting pressure on" I would be inclined to think the application was rather firm

[limitedperiodonly]

'Forced', 'Put pressure on', 'Asked her nicely.'

All boils down to the same thing.

But she's pleading not guilty so let's see what she does tomorrow.

[CarlingBlackMabel]

He was banned anyway, in the end, for driving while using a mobile.

Sorry, Claig, I cannot begin to understand why we should hope he would get back into politics.

He has absolutely no regard for anyone else's safety, and in a democracy there should be no place in government for anyone who considers themselvs above the law .

AF - As for her being possibly subject to manipulation etc - you realise many gang members join up because it is the only way they can see to keep themselves safe on their estates? They do stuff because older tougher gang members tell them. Are they an object of pity on MN? Or is it just women we feel deserve pity if put under pressure to do wrong? A woman with everything going for her, a woman with a huge salary of her own who certainly does not depend on his income (as many abused women feel they do)? Yes, she may have been a fool for love, felt her family would be better off without the 'MP Banned!' headlines, but that is no defence in law.

As for the people worrying about the poor son having his texts read out - he would have been called as a witness in CH's trial and almost certainly will in hers.

I hope she doesn't go to prison, I really do. But I don't see why she should be exonerated unless there is evidence of serious threats, fear, abuse etc.

I also hope that those women on MN who have shrugged and said 'I took points for DH/DP' on the various threads about speeding fines will take identifying details of themselves off their profiles, and any future woman who starts a thread like 'DH wants me to take his points' will see how serious this is.

[claig]

CarlingBlackLabel, maybe you are right, I am not sure.

[PacificDogwood]

I don't think either one of them is looking particularly good here tbh.
Even assuming that he used some kind of unpleasant pressure on her to get her to take his points, I still have a bad taste in my mouth that she came forward as "the woman scorned", it (rightly or wrongly) makes her look....hm, not sure what word I am looking for here... petty?
What I am trying to say is either she realised what she had done was wrong in its own right and decided to come forward, bugger the consquences, then good on her.
Or it was some kind of point scoring, then I am not so sure what it says about her and a need to get 'back' at him.
Poor family. And poor whoever-he-is-with-now. Camilla?

[PacificDogwood]

x-post with Carling

[CarlingBlackMabel]

There's all the difference in the world between 'forced' and 'putting pressure on'. A woman in a career like hers lives with people putting pressure on! Pressure can be withstood. It becomes force at the point at which it can't.

Look, maybe he was a forceful abuser, maybe her public distress (articles in reputable papers about 'being a unit', etc) at the break up of their marriage hid a relief to be out of it.

Forced? To commit a crime? Maybe there was a degree of self interest - who wants their DH banned from driving or having his picture in the DM as a banned driver?

But I feel that casting her as a victim may be doing her a patronising disservice. Even if it is one she invites by means of her defence or mitigation plea.

I hope she stays out of prison. I really do. Him? No sympathy at all. Though the loss of a relationship with his son is tragic for anyone.

[AnyFucker]

You might want to read my post again, Mabel

I said she may have been coerced

or maybe she is as bad as her exH

but that we do not know

we don't know anything about what goes on behind closed doors, tbh, and I think all the protagonists in this sorry tale are never going to tell the whole truth since they have had 10 years of constant lying, arse-covering and manipulation of all those around them

[Zavi]

Claig: can't believe you've described what CH did as "so small"; that you "feel sorry for him" and that this is a "tragedy"

He is an elected member of parliament. He is in a public position. He is in a position of trust (eh, well, he was anyway)

Despite all of that he tried to pervert the course of justice

How would you like it if everybody in government behaved like that? How confident would you feel in voting for people who you know are dishonest? How would you like to have dishonest people representing you?

Make no mistake: this is a great day, not a tragedy. Justice has prevailed.

[CarlingBlackMabel]

Fair enough, AnyFucker.

And I think you are right about the long term warping of truth and we'll never know.

Oddly, of course, when CH was first faced with 'Did your wife take points for you?' his impetus in answering 'no' may well have been protecting her. Not wanting to send her to 3 months in Holloway, as he says in the text! After all if she had been the driver, she's got her points, case over. Had he admitted it straight away he would have been immediately putting her in the position she is in now.

Sorry, sorry mess.

[Ruprekt]

Why has this taken 10 years to come to court?

He should be made to pay for wasting so much of the taxpayer's money on this.

And I hope he loses everything. Scumbag.

[CarlingBlackMabel]

Ruprekt - because it happened in 2003, then neither of them said anything about it and no-one knew it had happened, until suddenly in 2010 their marriage broke up and she said in an interview with a newspaper that he had asked her to take his points. Then the police saw the interview, or someone drew it to their attention, and they took it seriously

[limitedperiodonly]

Why has this taken 10 years to come to court?

Because Vicky Pryce chose not to bring it to anyone's attention until roughly a year ago when her husband left her for another woman ruprekt. And even then she wasn't terribly forthcoming.

I'm sure Huhne will lose quite a lot. And so will she. It's a mess of their own making.

[clam]

People like him always bounce back.

[AnyFucker]

yep, like Jonathan Aitken did

[PacificDogwood]

And Mendelson

[longfingernails]

He is a nasty piece of work.

Those who follow politics closely will not be surprised in the slightest; after all, the "Calamity Clegg" briefing paper didn't materialise out of thin air.

[claig]

Couldn't it be argued that he had foresight?
Thall haespinners and weavers - McBride etc.

[claig]

They all have spinners

[clam]

To whoever it was who said it was a tragedy: no it's not. Death is tragic; some arrogant politician who thinks he's above the law and lies through his teeth and expects us to accept he's "taken responsibility" is not.

The only sadness in this whole sorry affair is that there are children, albeit grown up now, who have to live with the public humiliation and private sorrow of having him for a father.

[claig]

OK, OK, I may well have been wrong!

[claig]

I guess it is like hubris in a Greek tragedy.
I have sympathy for him as a human being. Maybe his role as a public figure is over, but on a human level it is sad.

[AnyFucker]

have you had a little snifter this evening, claig ?