Chris Huhne Blames Murdoch for Jail Sentence

You can tell Chris Huhne is a Liberal Democrat when he starts lecturing the newspapers on morality. Huhne has said that the reason why he spent time in jail was because of the Sunday Times, not of course that he broke the law.

Huhne claims he was targeted by Rupert Murdoch

But why would the Sunday Times be to blame? Well it's because the 'monopolistic Murdoch press' (that has only 9% of the media market) wanted to stop Chris Huhne from 'talking' about phone hacking. Huhne said he spent time in jail because he was the most major politician to go 'public on how the police should re-open the investigation into voicemail hacking and the Murdoch press'. This story about Huhne from way back in the past was thus dug up and then put on the front page to attack him, this 'is not straight journalism' he said. 

Essentially Chris Huhne claims there is a conspiracy out to get him because he's important enough to bring down the 'Murdoch empire' by saying his journalists hacked phones. This is somewhat disproven by the facts however because it was also the Sunday People that had a front page story about him speeding on the same day as the Sunday Times. So unless Murdoch was telling his rivals the news he had, which is unlikely, the story of the conspiracy is about as truthful as Chris Huhne's plea of not guilty. 

My favourite picture of Chris Huhne

But it doesn't quite stop there because to show how 'evil' the Sunday Times is he claims the newspaper 'groomed' his ex wife for information. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact Vicky Pryce wanted revenge for him leaving her.

Huhne thinks he is a 'holier than thou' Lib Dem. Despite being found guilty of a crime he still believes he is morally superior and can make false accusations of ill doings against other people. My advice to Chris is to just go. Go Chris and fade out of public life. Unfortunately Chris Huhne will not go and now writes for the Guardian; so if you want to read the mad political ramblings of a vengeful failed minister the Guardian is the place to be. 

Guilty as charged, not set up.

Exclusive: James Deighton talks to #thingselliottsays

We have just received news from James Deighton who is running from Chairman of National CF. He wishes to stress the importance of campaigning in the Conservatives and how much this will be a part of CF under Deighton. This is what he had to say:

Last week we heard the dramatic news that Chris Huhne had finally accepted that the game was up and he pleaded guilty at his trail. Thus he was forced to step down from parliament, triggering a by-election in Eastleigh.  This is a crucial contest for both governing parties and it’s vital that we win this key target seat.

The Lib Dems have moved the writ extremely quickly with the election date set for Thursday 28^th February. This does not give us much time and we must move quickly if we are to seize this opportunity. There can be no better way of getting back at the Lib Dems for their betrayal over the boundary reforms than by taking this seat from them.

As a National CF Deputy Chairman and a candidate for National Chairman I know more than most that at times CF can become all too introverted. People often lose sight of the bigger picture with members attacking each other and bickering amongst themselves far too often. We must never forget that the reason we joined the Conservative party was to get our members elected, defeat our ideological opponents, and enact our ideas in government.  Campaigning together in elections unites us like nothing else. It strengthens our belief in our ideas and allows us to put aside our differences to work on something that is far bigger and more important than ourselves.

I love campaigning and during my many years in CF I have been all over the country. Knocking on countless doors and pushing thousands of pieces of literature through letter boxes.  I have been to almost every parliamentary by-election since Crewe and Nantwich in 2008. From Bradford to Barnsley, and Haltemprice to Henley. 

Nothing quite stiffens the sinews and summons up the blood like a parliamentary by-election. They offer a great opportunity to meet new people, see a different part of the country, and to participate in a high tempo, energetic campaign.

Although I live and work in Yorkshire I will be travelling to Eastleigh this Saturday for a day of campaigning. I strongly encourage every member of CF to do their bit to help our candidate Maria Hutchings succeed. If you can’t make it in person then you can always do some phone canvassing from one of the parties campaign centre or even from home. If we all do our bit we can turn Eastleigh blue.

Problems down tut Eastleigh

Trouble is ahead for the Coalition, which is obvious considering both parties are about to go to war over a small part of Hampshire.

The Liberal Democrats have been spoiling to attack the Conservatives for some time. To be fair this could be said the other way but at least Conservative Ministers are not briefing their Conservative colleagues to oppose the 'wicked Liberals' on almost everything. The air will be most foul. The Liberals feel aggrieved for not getting Lords Reform, although there seems to be some agreement on flaws in the legislation in the first place. Also many Lib Dems are not happy with the welfare reforms the Conservatives want, this is the line I think they will use on the campaign in Eastleigh ‘vote for us or the wicked Tories will get in’. The Conservatives are equally not happy with the Liberals deciding the new boundary changes are not fair all of a sudden. Nor do they like the seemingly timid Conservatism that the coalition government is pursuing in most cases (although I would also point to DC on that one for some blame).

Both parties are obviously going to vent their furies on each other and it will be unrelenting. It will be even worse because the Conservatives will throw everything into this by-election. For some this is a test of not only recent benefit cuts and the EU referendum pledge but of David Cameron’s leadership. If Cameron loses here it will be a huge loss in confidence in the party and him, especially considering that Eastleigh used to be a Tory safe seat. I’d watch your back Mr Cameron.

Personally I think this is a nail in the coffin for the Coalition, regardless who wins. The fighting will be very tense and will continue on after the by-election. However, as Cameron keeps saying the coalition is united on economic policy. But again, looking how the Lib Dems are now starting to refuse to cut areas, particularly on benefits, I doubt this will last much longer either.

He’s not the Messiah; he’s a very naughty boy!

Well as we all expected Chris Huhne is guilty of perverting the court of justice. Today he changed his plea in court and will probably be sentenced shortly for an offence that he is 90% likely to go to jail for. Chris Huhne, as you might remember, was the man once praised and virtually worshipped by the Liberal Democrats. He was almost their leader and took on the problems of fossil fuel energy so that we have no power for the next decade or so. Now his career is in ruins, his MP role is untenable. This means really only one thing. A by-election.

Here are the results from Eastleigh at the General Election 2010.

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	+/- %
Lib Dems	Chris Huhne	24,966	46.5	+8.2
Conservative	Maria Hutchings	21,102	39.3	+2.1
Labour	Leo Barraclough	5,153	9.6	−11.5
UKIP	Ray Finch	1,933	3.6	+0.2
English Democrats	Tony Pewsey	249	0.5	N/A
National Liberal Party- Third Way	Keith Low	93	0.2	N/A
Majority		3,864	7.2
Turnout		53,650	69.3	+4.9
Lib Dem hold		swing	3

This is a winnable Conservative Seat. The Lib Dems will lose many votes because they are very unpopular, only the core party will support them (and at the recent by-elections this wasn't enough to win back a deposit). That being said there will be a larger core Lib Dem vote, as they currently hold the seat, so I wouldn't expect them to receive less than 20% of the vote (but who knows). Some of the previous Lib Dem voters will not turn out at all. Many of them however will turn to Labour but will it be enough? Labour’s core vote in Eastleigh is at most 26% or 14,000 votes, this is the result from 1997 which the Labour party in no way could match today. They are likely to double the % of the vote they got in 2010 and will be pushing for a slim win.

The Conservatives at this point will not be in as good a position as 2010. Many voters will not turn out and some will vote UKIP. But I think due to the EU announcement and a slight increase in Conservative popularity due to the recent benefits votes and EU referendum I do not see the Conservatives doing so badly that the Lib Dems or even Labour takes the seat.

To combat UKIP there would be a strong argument of a vote for UKIP is a vote for Labour. This will not work for some people, UKIP’s vote share I predict will double at least. I believe though that we have a good chance of winning this seat but we must be very active in this area in order to win it. I think I’ll explore later what fighting a by-election in Eastleigh would mean for the Coalition in another Blog Post soon, because it’s going to be bloody.