Chris Huhne blames Rupert Murdoch vendetta for downfall
Disgraced former energy secretary Chris Huhne has sought to apportion blame for his downfall upon the Rupert Murdoch controlled press, after accusing the proprietor of waging a vendetta against him over his calls for an inquiry into phone hacking be News International.
The embittered former politician accused the Sunday Times of ‘grooming’ his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, to testify against him after approaching the paper with information about taking speeding points on Huhne’s behalf.
That decision to go public ultimately led to Huhne losing his job and spending 62 days locked up at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
Writing in the guardian Huhne said: “My endgame began when Neville Thurlbeck, the chief reporter of the now defunct News of the World, heard gossip that I was having an affair.
“Rather than cheap-skating on the proposed investigation by hacking my phone, the News of the World put me under extensive surveillance by a retired policeman, a more expensive exercise.
“Why was News International prepared to invest so much to tail an opposition Liberal Democrat back in 2009? Maybe it was coincidence, but that summer I was the only frontbencher who, with Nick Clegg’s brave backing, called for the Metropolitan Police to reopen the voicemail hacking inquiry into Rupert Murdoch’s empire.”
Huhne went on to allege that the Sunday Times bought dinners, sent flowers and offered breaks at fancy hotels for his former wife, as well as assurances that she would escape jail, in a bid to encourage her to open up.
A circumspect Huhne then added: “Politicians now have to live with a 24-hour media, which is more intrusive and hurtful for the people they love, and this is having a corrosive effect on how the public view politicians, and politics itself.”