The Liam Fox affair rumbles on; yesterday in Parliament he was pretty unconvincing, and came across like Jonathan Aitken during his libel trial against World in Action. He didn't really answer the simple questions put to him - why was his friend travelling with him as part of his entourage, was he acting on behalf of the firm he was connected with, and could Fox and his friend have benefited financially from these meetings?
Peter Mandelson had to resign (twice) for less.
It's been interesting the way the media have reported the whole episode. There's been a lot of care not to mention any homosexual overtones to the case, although it's impossible not to read between the lines, and the story comes just a few months after the "revelations" that William Hague had shared a room with a young man who was a political assistant - but then stories about William Hague being gay aren't new. And just the other morning, a leading Tory MP was wheeled out to speak up for Fox, and to condemn the "smears and innuendo" surrounding the case, which only served to make it more alluring...
I don't think this is going to go away; Cameron's given Fox conditional support, but with the Murdoch affair about to rear it's ugly head again, the Prime Minister's in for a problematic autumn. Perhaps - and this isn't as outlandish as it sounds - if things go really badly over the next few weeks, we could be seeing Nick Clegg as the de facto PM before Christmas.
God help us, one and all.
No comments:
Post a Comment