Right-wingers guns for Chris Huhne


by Sunny Hundal    
June 21, 2010 at 8:40 am

The Tory right is in full attack-mode against Chris Huhne today over the fact that he dared to have an affair.

The Daily Mail screams: The minister for hypocrisy: Top LibDem who dumped wife of 26years when affair with PR girl was exposed shamelessly played on family values at election.

Which amounts to one leaflet where he says he loves his family.

The newspaper also has another story: Chris Huhne’s bisexual lover: Life and very different loves of the PR girl in Doc Martens

And then there’s the inevitable rant by Melanie Phillips: The shine’s coming off the Lib Dems faster than a guardsman’s boot in a farmyard

True, the Lib Dems have explicitly refused to support the values of marriage, extolling instead ‘lifestyle choice’ – otherwise known as the right to personal irresponsibility.

Yet only four days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg – who once modestly confided he had slept with ‘no more than 30′ women – was forced to support David Cameron’s pro-marriage agenda when he wrote: ‘I know from my own life that a happy marriage and healthy children matter more than anything else . . . When marriages and relationships break down, a child’s whole world can collapse too. Strong, stable and loving families are the cornerstone of a happy childhood.’

Oh dear. Just when Clegg had dumped yet another Lib Dem shibboleth, he was left with his trousers round his ankles. It seems the philandering Huhne had kept his leader in the dark, too.
In any event, the argument that politicians shouldn’t be judged by their private lives really is a turkey.

Of course, Chris Huhne is not going anywhere. The big news today will be Osborne and his planned cuts.

But the gusto with which the Tory right is willing the coalition to fall is breathtaking.


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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Gaf the Horse

Do they (the right wing press) really want the coalition to fall, or are they just targeting each LD MP until there aren’t any left to serve in government, when they’ll have the Tory government they wanted all along? 2 down, 55 to go!

Since I was insulted a few weeks ago over a sarcastic point I made which someone took far too seriously, I’d like to point out that the above is not serious!

Isn’t it hypocritical to produce pictures of your marriage and children (intimate pictures at that) in your electoral leaflets whilst conducting a long-standing affair. Can’t blame the Tory press for this.

3. George W Potter

It’s stuff like this that makes me happy about the coalition. If the Tory Tabloids hate it so much then it clearly can’t be all bad :)

I have to admit that I didn’t think the coalition was going to quite so liberal as to provide us with newspaper stories about a “Cabinet Minister’s lesbian mistress.”

This is all going to be rather fun, isn’t it?

5. Shatterface

‘The newspaper also has another story: Chris Huhne’s bisexual lover: Life and very different loves of the PR girl in Doc Martens’

I’m liking her already.

As a longtime supporter of Chris I am disappointed in him. It’s one thing for a marriage to break down then go your separate ways. It’s quite another to cheat on your wife and kids. It’s them I feel sorry for. And referring to your affair in a press statement as a “serious relationship”… What does that make the 26-year marriage?

“And referring to your affair in a press statement as a “serious relationship”… What does that make the 26-year marriage?”

Over?

8. sevillista

This is down to Labour’s callous disregard for families.

If only Huhne had a £2 a week incentive to stay faithful – he would certainly have stayed faithful. Instead, Britain ends up a little bit more broken.

If only Chris Hunhe had been given three quid a week, he would never had ended up ball deep in his PR.

If Mad Mel is so in to family values why the fuck does she work for a living?

Get back behind the kitchen sink Mel, and get on your knees and clean the floor.

You are a hypocrite of the worst sort, but then you are not rally a woman, you are a sort of odd strange creature of greed.

But the right wing press is going after the Lib dems. They are playing the long game. At the next election the Lib Dems will get all the shit handed at them by both left and right.

sevillista @ 8 (2.19PM)

Great minds think alike…

A politician? Cheating on his wife in private? While extolling the virtues of *~*~the family~*~* in public? Well, I’m shocked. This is my shocked and appalled face D:


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Right-wingers guns for Chris Huhne http://bit.ly/azHebK

  2. Jayne Grindell

    RT @libcon Right-wingers guns for Chris Huhne http://bit.ly/brY1o4 – oh for God's sake?!

  3. Adam Bienkov

    They seem to be failing even to outrage themselves, which must be a worry http://bit.ly/azHebK

  4. Kelly

    RT @AdamBienkov: The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  5. Rezina

    RT @AdamBienkov: The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  6. Bee Tucker

    RT @AdamBienkov: The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  7. Adam Bienkov

    The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  8. Tim Ireland

    RT @AdamBienkov: The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  9. John West

    RT @AdamBienkov: The Mail's coverage of the Huhne affair is stuck in the last century. Does Middle England even care? http://bit.ly/azHebK

  10. Bee Tucker

    RT @AdamBienkov: They seem to be failing even to outrage themselves, which must be a worry http://bit.ly/azHebK





  • We have a tight comments policy aimed at fostering constructive debate.
  • We believe in free speech but not your right to abuse our space.
  • Abusive, sarcastic or silly comments may be deleted.
  • Misogynist, racist, homophobic and xenophobic comments will be deleted.
  • Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy.

 
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