Today’s papers make clear just how damaging the next phase of this whole Chris Huhne business could be to the Liberal Democrats. The danger is that because this story is a very human drama it cuts through to the public in the way that some minor dispute over policy would not.
The Mail, for instance, reveals that Nick Clegg’s wife Miriam called Vicky Pryce as soon as the news broke about the charges saying ‘If you need somewhere to stay, if the kids need support, we’re here’.
Patrick Wintour is surely right when he writes that the concern for the Liberal Democrats ‘must be the consequences of a drawn-out court case. The trial would be of unfathomable darkness for the individuals involved, but for the public a cruel sport in which the Lib Dems could revert to a laughing stock, a sort of Rinka/Exmoor/Jeremy Thorpe saga all over again.’
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