The mysterious case of David Ruffley’s letter

There is much hullaballoo this morning about how slow the Tories were to act over David Ruffley, the disgraced MP who announced last night that he will not stand for Bury St. Edmunds at the next election following the fallout from his accepting a police caution after a violent domestic incident with his former partner.

Mr S understands that Ruffley told Tory High Command that his former partner had written a letter which downplayed the domestic incident and said that Ruffley’s acceptance of a caution was a way to resolve the issue quickly and amicably. It was thought that this letter, when produced, would head off criticism of Ruffley.

But the stern advocacy of the Dean of St. Edmundsbury, who is a close friend of Mr Ruffley’s former partner, made Tory HQ suspicious. ‘Why was she saying this?’ they asked, because it did not chime with Ruffley’s version of events. So they asked Ruffley to see that the letter was produced.