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Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne (born 2 July 1954), known as Chris Huhne, is a British energy and climate change consultant and former journalist and politician who was the
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
Member of Parliament for
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
from
2005 to
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
and the
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was a British government cabinet position from 2008 to 2016. The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 when then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown ...
from 2010 to 2012.
From September 2013 to August 2014 he wrote a weekly column for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
On 3 February 2012, Huhne resigned from the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
when he was charged with
perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...
over a 2003 speeding case. His wife at the time,
Vicky Pryce
Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce (' Kourmouzi ( el, Βασιλική Κουρμούζη); born 15 July 1952) is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service.
She is currently the Chief Econom ...
, had claimed that she was driving the car, and accepted the licence penalty points on his behalf so that he could avoid being banned from driving. Huhne denied the charge until the trial began on 4 February 2013 when he changed his plea to
guilty
Guilty or The Guilty may refer to:
* Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard
Law
*Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction
*Guilt (law) ...
, resigned as a member of parliament, and left the
Privy Council.
[ He and Pryce were sentenced at ]Southwark Crown Court
The Crown Court at Southwark, commonly but inaccurately called Southwark Crown Court, is one of two locations of the Crown Court in the London SE1 postcode area, along with the Crown Court at Inner London.
Opened in 1983, the brick building is ...
on 11 March to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.[ He served nine weeks of this sentence at HMP Leyhill in ]Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
before he was released.
Huhne had twice stood unsuccessfully for election as Leader of the Liberal Democrats; in 2006 he came second to Sir Menzies Campbell
Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (; born 22 May 1941), often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from ...
and in 2007 he narrowly lost to Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
.
Early life
Education and upbringing
Huhne was born in west London to businessman Peter Paul-Huhne and actress Ann Murray. He was educated at Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
.
He attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a Demy and editor of ''Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
''. He also attended the Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, Paris. At Oxford, Huhne edited the student magazine ''Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
'', served on the executive of the Oxford University Labour Club
Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) was founded in 1919 to promote democratic socialism and is today the home of the Labour Party and of social democracy at Oxford University. OULC is the largest and oldest university Labour club in the count ...
, and achieved a first-class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). He was active in student politics, supporting the Labour Party.
Career before Parliament
Before embarking on his political career, he was a City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
entrepreneur. He told ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' in 2008: "I don't claim that I'm in other than a very happy position compared with most people, because, having spent a bit of time in the City before I was elected, being able to make a bit of money while I was there, I have a cushion." He started a company called IBCA Sovereign Ratings in 1994 that tried to "measure the risks of investing in different countries". In 1997 he became group managing director of Fitch IBCA, and from 1999 to 2003 was vice-chairman of Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency and is one of the " Big Three credit rating agencies", the other two being Moody's and Standard & Poor's. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations ( NRSRO ...
.
Huhne was economics editor, leader writer and columnist for ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',[Huhne, C. ''Real World Economics'', Penguin (1990)] and economics editor, assistant editor and columnist for ''The Independent on Sunday.'' He was the business editor of ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' and ''The Independent on Sunday
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...
'' during its investigations into Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from ...
's fraud on the Mirror group pension fund. He started as an undercover freelance reporter in India during Indira Gandhi's emergency when western journalists had been expelled. He also worked for the Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...
and ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' as its Brussels correspondent between 1977 and 1980. He won both the junior and senior Wincott awards for financial journalist of the year in 1980 and 1989 respectively. Along with his work in newspapers and magazines he co-wrote the book ''Debt & Danger: The World Financial Crisis'' (Penguin, 1985) with Harold Lever, and wrote ''Real World Economics'' (Penguin 1990).
Parliamentary candidate
Huhne contested the 1983 general election as a Parliamentary candidate for the SDP–Liberal Alliance
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was a centrist and social liberal political and electoral alliance in the United Kingdom.
Formed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party, the SDP–Liberal Alliance was established in 1981, contest ...
in Reading East coming second, and in the 1987 general election he was the SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate in the Oxford West and Abingdon
Oxford West and Abingdon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat.
History Creation
The seat was created in 1983 as part of the reconfiguration of those in the co ...
seat, a seat that would be won ten years later by Liberal Democrat candidate Evan Harris
Evan Leslie Harris (born 21 October 1965) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative ...
.
Member of European Parliament (1999–2005)
In June 1999 Huhne was elected as a member of the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
for South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...
. The Liberal Democrats came third with a total of 228,136 votes behind the Conservatives and Labour. The proportion of votes received meant that the party was able to send the top two list candidates to the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, Emma Nicholson the top list candidate and Chris Huhne, second on the list. During the 2004 European Parliament elections Huhne was re-elected along with Emma Nicholson with the party having received 338,342 votes, 15% of the total vote. In 2005 Huhne stood for election to the United Kingdom parliament representing the seat of Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
in Hampshire. After he was elected as a Member of the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
on 5 May 2005, Sharon Bowles, the candidate third on the Liberal Democrat list, replaced Huhne as representative for the South East of England.
During his time in the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, Huhne was the only Liberal Democrat MEP in a ranking by ''The Economist'' of the three highest-profile UK MEPs (the others being Glenys Kinnock
Glenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (''née'' Parry; born 7 July 1944), is a British politician and former teacher who served as Minister of State for Europe from June to October 2009 and Minister of State for Africa and the ...
and Caroline Lucas). He was a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, concerned with economic and financial policy including regulation of the financial sector. He was economic spokesman for the pan-European Liberal group in the European Parliament and was responsible for introducing "sunset clause
In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides that the law shall cease to have effect after a specific date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law ...
s" – time limits on powers – into European Union law for the first time, for radically amending Commission proposals on financial services, and for opening up the European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...
to greater scrutiny.
In addition to his European Parliament responsibilities, he was also active in the development of Liberal Democrat policy as chairman of four policy groups: broadcasting and the media, globalisation, the introduction of the euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
, and the reform of public services. On public services, he argued that money was a necessary condition of improvement, but that the key was decentralisation and democratic control; local voters needed to be able to hold local decision-takers to account.
Member of Parliament
Huhne was first elected to represent Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
at the general election on 5 May 2005, a constituency within the area for which he was previously the Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
. David Chidgey, the previous MP for the constituency, was also a Liberal Democrat who won his seat in what was historically a Conservative area in a by-election in 1994 following the death of Stephen Milligan. The result in 2005 was close, with Huhne winning with a majority of 568 over Conservative rival Conor Burns
Conor Burns (born 24 September 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth West since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister of State for Trade Policy from 2019 to 202 ...
. In the 2010 general election Huhne retained his seat with an increased majority of 3,864 over Conservative Maria Hutchings. He was appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds
The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three "hundred (county division), hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal ...
on 5 February 2013, which vacated his seat and thus ended his tenure as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh. In accepting this office, he became the first official Liberal or Liberal Democrat MP to resign a parliamentary seat since 1941.
Treasury spokesman
Following his election to the House of Commons then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
made Huhne the party's shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...
. In this role Huhne led the party's debate on the 2005 Finance Bill, suggesting that amendments should be made to stop a pensions loophole which would have allowed a 40% discount on property and other investments. In the pre-budget report
The Spring Statement of the British Government, also known as the "mini-budget", is one of the two statements HM Treasury makes each year to Parliament upon publication of economic forecasts, the second taking place the previous year as the Autum ...
for 2006, the Chancellor conceded the change.
2006 leadership contest
Huhne stood against Sir Menzies Campbell and Simon Hughes
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...
for the Liberal Democrat leadership following Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
's resignation, formally launching his campaign on 13 January 2006.
Huhne was able to carve out a distinctive position on the issue of green taxation . He argued for a radical expansion of taxes on pollution, allowing for reductions in the income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
rate on the lowest paid. This theme endeared Huhne to environmentalists and market liberals alike, allowing him to pick up supporters as the campaign went on. He also argued for a repeal of elements of the Labour government's anti-terrorism legislation, which many felt had undermined British civil liberties, and for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
within a year. He described himself as a 'social liberal'.
Although the majority of Liberal Democrat MPs declared their support for Sir Menzies Campbell, Huhne did receive endorsements from some party notables including Lord Maclennan and William Rodgers. Amongst the media, ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' and ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' supported his leadership bid. He was backed from early on by a number of bloggers, and gained much momentum from an internet campaign.
In the final vote, Huhne finished runner-up, tallying 21,628 votes to Sir Menzies Campbell's 29,697. Campbell appointed him as the Liberal Democrat's environment spokesman in the subsequent frontbench reshuffle, in order for Huhne to develop a viable programme to expand on his green campaign themes.
During the election campaign, a news story in ''The Independent'' on 27 February 2006, reported that an unsigned document entitled "Chris Huhne's Hypocritical Personal Share Portfolio" was being circulated at Lib Dem leadership election meetings. The document alleged that Huhne had invested in companies that the document described as "unethical". The document stated: "Chris Huhne is campaigning for the Lib Dem leadership on a green, carbon-neutral platform, and further advocates increasing tax for the wealthy, which would include himself. However, his shareholdings include, or have included, mining companies, oil companies and tax shelters."
Environment spokesman
The intellectual energy surrounding Huhne's leadership campaign did much to inform the Liberal Democrats' recent political agenda. His proposals for realigning green taxes and income tax – the ''green tax switch'' – were at the heart of the fiscal package endorsed at the party's September 2006 conference.
Huhne was involved in developing his party's thoughts on climate change and the environment, including a consideration of the challenges and opportunities they create for British businesses. He also drew attention to what he said was the divergence between the Conservative Party's environmental rhetoric and its policies.
Huhne was one of fourteen MPs forming an all-party parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in the UK. Their report criticised boycotts of Israeli academics as "an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange" and accused "some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists ..of using criticism of Israel as 'a pretext' for spreading hatred against British Jew
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British people, British citizens who identify as Jews, Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 ...
s". Huhne is, however, a critic of Israeli government policy in the Middle East, and strongly supports the creation of a separate Palestinian state
Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization ( ...
. He described the Israeli response in Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
to Hezbollah's rocket attacks as disproportionate and counter-productive, arguing that a strong Lebanese state is in Israel's long-term interest.
In March 2007 it was falsely reported that he had written to executives at Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
to try and stop their showing ''The Great Global Warming Swindle
''The Great Global Warming Swindle'' is a 2007 British polemical documentary film directed by Martin Durkin. The film denies the scientific consensus about the reality and causes of climate change, justifying this by suggesting that climatolo ...
''. In an e-mail exchange with Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author and political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. In 2005, he became the first openly gay Conservative candidate to c ...
, Huhne stated that he only wrote to ask for the channel's comments, and ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' later ran a correction and apologised for the misunderstanding, saying it was happy to accept that "Mr Huhne's letter was not an attempt to prevent the film being shown or suppress debate on the issue".
After Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
announced his intention, during the 2007 party conference, to stand for the leadership should Sir Menzies Campbell retire, Chris Huhne, when asked about his leadership ambitions, said that there was: "no vacancy, and it would be premature to even talk about the position of there being a vacancy".
2007 leadership contest
Following Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation on 15 October 2007, Huhne was considered to be one of the strongest contenders for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. On 17 October, he became the first member of the party to announce his candidacy, saying "I've decided to give it a go" and declaring his vision of a "fairer and greener society". Huhne said that he wanted the party to be committed to the idea that "everybody's individual worth and chance is given its full possibility."
On 28 October 2007, Huhne announced that he had secured the support of 10 of his 62 parliamentary colleagues for his formal nomination. His rival Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
announced the support of 33 MPs. Huhne also claimed backing from at least twelve peers, four MSPs, and three Welsh Assembly
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...
members. After former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown announced his support for Clegg, a previous Liberal leader Lord Steel declared his support for Huhne, based in part on Huhne's position on the Trident nuclear programme.
In the last week of campaigning, his team were bullish about his chances, predicting a win. In the final count, the party membership chose his rival Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
by a narrow margin of 511 votes out of more than 41,000 counted.
About 1,300 postal votes were caught up in the Christmas post and missed the election deadline. An unofficial check of the late papers showed Huhne had enough votes among them to hand him victory. Huhne stood by the result, saying: "Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
won fair and square on the rules counting the ballot papers that arrived in by the deadline. There is no question of any re-run." Following the leadership election, Clegg chose Huhne to be the party's Home Affairs Spokesman.
Election conduct
During the leadership election, Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
registered a formal complaint about Huhne's conduct to Chris Rennard, the party's Chief Whip and returning officer. Clegg stated that his rival was indulging in: "the politics of innuendo, mounting false challenges and running a campaign that is handing political ammunition to the party's political opponents." Huhne and Clegg were debating on live television on BBC's ''The Politics Show
''Politics Show'' is an hour-long BBC One television political programme which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays between 2003 and 2011, broadcasting usually at midday.
''Politics Show'' was superseded by ''Sunday Politics'', a weeke ...
'' on Sunday 18 November 2007, when presenter Jon Sopel
Jonathan B. Sopel (born 22 May 1959) is a British journalist, television presenter and a former correspondent for BBC News. He was formerly the BBC's North America editor; chief political correspondent for the domestic news channel BBC News; a ...
produced a briefing document that had been specially delivered to the show's production team by the Huhne campaign team on the preceding Friday. The document excoriated Clegg on a number of policy and political issues and was titled "Calamity Clegg". When challenged about the document, Huhne claimed that he had no knowledge of it and said he did not agree with the document title but agreed with the points within it. Asked how it was possible that he had no knowledge of such a major document sent to the producer of the show he was due to appear on, Huhne replied: "It's quite impossible to check everything that goes out of the office... But I can assure you that's not had my authorization." After Clegg complained about what he called "dirty tricks" and other senior party members condemned the Huhne campaign attack, Huhne's campaign manager Anna Werrin claimed that the title of the memo was just the product of an "over-zealous researcher" and had not been seen or approved by Huhne or any senior campaign officials prior to release. "The document title had not been approved before the document was sent out and neither Chris nor I were aware of it."
Speaking to the Independent on 21 November 2007, Huhne claimed: "Unfortunately it was a mixture of responsibilities. It was an over-zealous young researcher who was responsible for drawing up the document." The researcher was not on his staff, he said, denying that, as a former journalist, he might have been expected to read what was put out in his name before it was issued.
Home Affairs spokesman
In October 2008, as Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson
The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson is the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on matters relating to the work of the Home Secretary and Home Office. The office holder is a member of the Liberal Democrat frontbench team. The post e ...
, Huhne led the Liberal Democrat response to the government's announcement of plans to expand the capacity to collect records of people using electronic communications. The Home Secretary's announcement was in response to warnings by police and the security services that the growing fragmentation and complexity of communications was hindering their tackling of terrorism and organised criminality. But Huhne disagreed with the government's response to the police and security services, saying: "The Government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."
In January 2009, Huhne was credited with uncovering an instance of data loss of government information caused by a courier company losing a computer disc containing bank details of up to 2,000 public servants working for the British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
. Huhne blamed the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the government for the courier company's loss and said that the incident was an example of why the UK should not have identity card
An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...
s: "This is another instance in a long line of slapdash data protection by government departments. If Whitehall cannot look after its own data records it should not be trusted with the personal information of every citizen as it wants with the identity card scheme."
On 6 November 2007, Huhne made remarks about the Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
on the BBC television programme ''Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' in which he claimed that the Speaker, Michael Martin, had fallen asleep during a speech by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
. "The Speaker unfortunately fell asleep during Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
's speech ... I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that, but he reacted in an entirely understandable way to what was not the most riveting of parliamentary occasions." After the remarks were repeated in several publications, Huhne made a public apology to the Speaker in the House of Commons on 8 November in which he withdrew his prior comments. "It was wrong of me to draw the Chair into a matter of political dispute. I hope you will accept I intended no personal offence and fully withdraw my comments."
Support for scientific advisor
Huhne was an avid supporter of Professor David Nutt
David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit w ...
after he was dismissed by Home Secretary Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chanc ...
as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is a British statutory advisory non-departmental public body, which was established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Mandate
Its terms of reference, according to the Act, are as follows:
'' ...
(ACMD) in November 2009. Nutt had criticised the government's decision to reclassify cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
as a Class B drug
These drugs are known in the UK as ''controlled drugs'', because this is the term by which the act itself refers to them. In more general terms, however, many of these drugs are also controlled by the Medicines Act 1968, there are many other drug ...
rather than keeping it as a class C. Huhne said the decision to sack Nutt was "disgraceful" and commented: "what is the point of having independent scientific advice if as soon as you get some advice that you don't like, you sack the person who has given it to you?". Attacking the government, he said that if they did not want to take expert scientific advice they might as well have a "committee of tabloid newspaper editors to advise on drugs policy". Cannabis had been re-classified as a class C drug in 2004 by then Home Secretary David Blunkett
David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...
, only for Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...
to reverse the ruling in 2008, a decision taken despite official advisers recommending against it.
Expenses claims
As part of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' investigation into expense claims by MPs, Huhne was reported to have claimed for various items including groceries, fluffy dusters and a trouser press. In 2006, he claimed £5,066 for painting work on his garden fences and chairs. He collected £119 for a Corby trouser press from John Lewis but later said he would repay the cost in order "to avoid controversy". He later claimed on a live Channel 4 news programme that he needed the trouser press to "look smart" for work. Huhne's office running costs during the 2007/2008 financial year were the 206th highest out of 645, his second home claims were 580th highest (or 65th cheapest) out of 645, and his total expense claims were below average, ranking 418th most expensive.
Huhne was one of sixteen ministers whose assets were held in a blind trust
A blind trust is a trust in which the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust, and no right to intervene in their handling. In a blind trust, the trustees ( fiduciaries, or those who have been given power of attorney) ...
.
Coalition Government (2010–2012)
Following the 2010 general election, Huhne became a member of the Liberal Democrats' key negotiating team alongside Danny Alexander
Sir Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency from 2005 u ...
, David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil from 2001 United Kingdom general election, 200 ...
and Andrew Stunell that brokered the agreement Agreement may refer to:
Agreements between people and organizations
* Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law
* Trade agreement, between countries
* Consensus, a decision-making process
* Contract, enforceable in a court of law
** Meeting o ...
to go into a governing coalition with the Conservatives. Following the negotiations and the formation of a full coalition Huhne was appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was a British government cabinet position from 2008 to 2016. The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 when then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown ...
, the tenth most senior minister in the new government. There had been some speculation that Huhne might be appointed as Home Secretary, as he had been the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Home Affairs in the preceding three years, although this post went to the Conservative Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
. He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...
on 13 May 2010.
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
A vocal environmentalist, Huhne accepted the role of Secretary of State with the stated intention of making the nation more ecologically conscious. Among his first actions was launching National Wind Week by speaking at an event in London's Leicester Square on 15 June 2010. Underscoring his personal commitment to wind power, Huhne erected an 8-foot wind turbine at his constituency home in Eastleigh.
Position on nuclear energy
In government, Huhne maintained a flexible approach on the subject of nuclear energy, advocating the three-pronged ''portfolio'' approach to energy: a commitment to nuclear energy; the development of more renewable energy, such as wind and sea power; and new carbon-capture technology to mitigate the damaging environmental effects of fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial facilities. In an interview with ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' in March 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Huhne stated that: "there are a lot of issues outside of the realm of nuclear safety, which we will have to assess. One is what the economics of nuclear power post-Fukushima will be, if there is an increase in the cost in capital to nuclear operators." This represents an evolution of his approach to the nuclear issue. In 2007, Huhne was quoted as saying: "Nuclear is a tried, tested and failed technology and the government must stop putting time, effort and subsidies into this outdated industry."
Cancellation of Sheffield Forgemasters loan
In June 2010, Huhne cancelled an £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters
Sheffield Forgemasters is a heavy engineering firm located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The company specialises in the production of large bespoke steel castings and forgings, as well as standard rolls, ingots and bars. The comp ...
which had been pledged by the preceding Labour government to build power plant components. He was criticised by Labour Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
who said that the money for the loan had been set aside and would have resulted in at least £110 million returning to the Exchequer. On 1 July 2010, Huhne replied to Miliband saying: "The loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was not a commercial loan. If it was a commercial loan it would have been arranged through the banks and not by the government. It was precisely because of the public subsidy element, and the fact that the public subsidy element was not affordable, that the government decided not to proceed with it." The cancellation of the loan was one of a number of projects agreed by the previous Labour government cancelled in an announcement to the House of Commons on 17 June 2010.
Cancun climate change conference
On 9 December 2010, Huhne represented the United Kingdom at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework ...
. The gathering, at which over 190 countries were represented, announced a deal to curb climate change which Prime Minister David Cameron described as a "very significant step forward." The agreement struck in Mexico included a recognition that deeper cuts in carbon emissions were needed and that a fund should be set up to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions. Huhne described the deal as a "serious package" of measures but acknowledged that there was still more work to do prior to the next climate change meeting in Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
, South Africa, the following year. Following the conference, David Cameron said that his government would be the "greenest ever" and that Britain would meet its international obligations regarding climate change.
Support for AV referendum campaign
Huhne was an enthusiastic supporter of the AV campaign (Alternative Vote Referendum) and attacked anti-AV campaigners such as his cabinet colleague, Conservative Party chairman Baroness Warsi
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, (; born 28 March 1971) is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coaliti ...
.If Baroness Warsi thinks that AV will benefit fascism she has to explain why the BNP wants to stick with what we have and Operation Black Vote supports AV. The BNP know the present system is their only chance of election. This is another example of the increasingly Goebbels-like campaign from the anti-AV people, for whom no lie is too idiotic given the truth is so unpalatable to them. AV makes lazy MPs work harder and reach out beyond their tribe. It is what Britain needs to clean up politics.[Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...]
tactics over AV referendum">
Resignation
On 5 February 2013 Huhne resigned as an MP following his plea of guilty to perverting the course of justice.
Career since Parliament
Zilkha Biomass Energy
Soon after his sentence Huhne was appointed European Chairman of Zilkha Biomass Energy. The firm made
wood chip pellets in the United States. Huhne was also a consultant for Nationwide Energy Services. Until 2014 Huhne was a regular contributor to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
Depictions
In February 2010 Huhne was played by
Alan Parnaby in the television film ''
On Expenses'' and in 2015 by Rob Vowles in television film ''
Coalition''.
Personal life
Huhne married Greek-born economist
Vicky Pryce
Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce (' Kourmouzi ( el, Βασιλική Κουρμούζη); born 15 July 1952) is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service.
She is currently the Chief Econom ...
(formerly Chief Economist in the
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and was itself disbande ...
) in 1984 shortly after she divorced her first husband, with whom she had two daughters. Huhne and Pryce have three children together. In a video statement made during the 2007 Liberal Democrats' leadership election campaign, Huhne described his philosophy about family life: "Relationships, including particularly family relationships, are actually the most important things in making people happy and fulfilled". Talking about his wife to ''The Independent'' in 2008 he stated: "I also have a very hard-working and extremely intelligent wife, who manages to earn far more than I do."
In June 2010, Huhne admitted that he had been involved in a relationship with Carina Trimingham and stated that he had decided to leave his wife to be with her. Huhne's wife and children were unaware of his behaviour and plans. Within one week of Huhne's declaration, Pryce filed for divorce on the grounds of Huhne's "admitted adultery". Trimingham had worked on Huhne's campaigns for the Liberal Democrat leadership in 2006 and 2007 and was a paid staff member on his 2010 general-election campaign. She was press officer for
Brian Paddick
Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958), is a British politician and retired police officer, currently sitting in the House of Lords as a life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2 ...
during the
2008 Mayor of London election, and was campaigns director at the
Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...
. Huhne was defended by Cabinet Office minister
Francis Maude
Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude, Baron Maude of Horsham, (born 4 July 1953) is a British Conservative Party politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Trade and Investment from 2015 to 2016, having previously served as Minis ...
, who said: "What goes on in people's private lives is a subject that fascinates the tabloid press but is irrelevant to the job they are trying to do."
[ ] Huhne and Pryce divorced in January 2011.
Personal interests
"Electoral reform" is among the personal interests that Huhne cites on his biography on the official Liberal Democrats website. He describes his other interests as "European single currency, economics,
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
debt and development, Europe".
Huhne is or was a member of the
European Movement
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
The origins of th ...
, Green Lib Dems, Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists and the
National Union of Journalists
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Structure
There is ...
.
Publications and writing interests
Prior to his careers as a financial journalist, analyst and politician, Huhne wrote four books that are mainly on the themes of either
Third-World debt
The debt of developing countries usually refers to the external debt incurred by governments of developing countries.
There have been several historical episodes of governments of developing countries borrowing in quantities beyond their abilit ...
and development, or European integration. His latest book is entitled ''Both Sides of the Coin'' (1999, with
James Forder
James Forder (born 1964) is a British academic / economist and Tutorial Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, University of Oxford. He is editor of ''Oxford Economic Papers''. He co-authored the book "Both Sides of the Coin" along with Chris Huh ...
), in which he argues the case for British membership in the euro. His first was ''Debt and Danger'' (Penguin Special, 1985), an analysis of the 1984 Third World debt crisis co-written with
Lord Lever of Manchester, the former Labour cabinet minister.
He was a contributor to the ''
Orange Book'' (2004), in which he advocates reforms to the United Nations and international governance. Huhne was critical of the most controversial article in the ''Orange Book'', in which
David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil from 2001 United Kingdom general election, 200 ...
proposed an insurance-based
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
. He did not take part in the successor volume, ''Britain after Blair'' and has voiced dismay at the way its predecessor was presented as a break with the party's social liberal traditions. More recently, he contributed to the book ''
The City in Europe and the World
''The City in Europe and the World'' () is a 2005 collection of essays examining the relationship between the City of London's financial markets, politics, government, and Europe, edited by Stephen Barber and with a foreword by Peter Mandelson.
T ...
'' (2005) and two articles to ''Reinventing the State'' (2007) edited by Duncan Brack,
Richard Grayson and
David Howarth
David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005–10. He served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018. He is Professor of L ...
. These cover the case for localism in which Huhne argues that there is no contradiction between localism and equality, and the need for environmental policy to tackle climate change.
Huhne has also written articles for ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' and ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
''. While an MEP, he wrote a weekly column for the London Evening Standard on European matters.
Criminal conviction
In May 2011 Huhne's estranged wife Vicky Pryce approached a reporter for the ''
Mail on Sunday
''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...
'' with a claim that Huhne had "pressurised people to take his driving licence penalty points" on his behalf in 2003. Huhne denied the allegations of
perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...
, contrary to
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
.
Essex Police said: "We take allegations such as this one extremely seriously and will take action where necessary."
Essex Police sent initial papers to the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...
regarding the allegations and Huhne exercised his
right to remain silent
The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the worl ...
in response to police questions in May. On 25 June 2011, Essex Police said that a
judge at the
Crown Court at
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...
had granted them a court order to take possession of a recording from ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' in which the ex-couple apparently discuss the case. It then emerged that Huhne had again been interviewed by police concerning the allegations, and on 28 July the police handed the file to prosecutors. On 17 August 2011, the Crown Prosecution Service remitted the matter to Essex Police with a direction to investigate the matter further. On 25 August 2011, Essex Police re-submitted their allegations to the CPS. A decision on whether criminal proceedings would be instituted for the alleged offence was expected to be made by the end of September 2011.
On 28 October 2011, the Crown Prosecution Service referred the matter to Essex Police for further investigation, having completed a "full review" of the allegations. At a private hearing in October 2011, a judge in the Crown Court at Chelmsford ordered ''The Sunday Times'' to produce email messages between Pryce and the newspaper's political editor in relation to the police investigation. On 22 November, the
Director of Public Prosecutions,
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras s ...
announced that the CPS was "very close" to deciding whether to prosecute. The reason for the delay was that ''The Sunday Times'' was seeking judicial review of the court order the CPS had obtained. Starmer stated "we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians". The judicial review hearing was scheduled for 20 January 2012. On that date ''The Sunday Times'' dropped its application for judicial review and said that it would comply with the court order for delivery of the documents.
The emails were delivered to Essex Police, who said there was no need to conduct further interviews.
Starmer created some controversy about the prospect of a fair trial by personally announcing on television on 3 February 2012 that both Huhne and Pryce had been charged with perverting the course of justice. Huhne thereupon resigned from the Cabinet. As a result of his resignation, and in accordance with the rules governing severance payments to resigning ministers, Huhne received a tax-free payment of £17,000. Huhne and Pryce appeared before
Mr Justice Saunders in the Crown Court at Southwark on 2 March 2012. A trial was timetabled for early October 2012, with the possibility that the case might start earlier. Neither defendant entered a plea and both were granted unconditional bail. At a plea and case management hearing on 1 June 2012, Huhne announced his intention to apply to the court to have the charge dismissed. Pryce entered a plea of not guilty, and would advance a defence at trial of
marital coercion
Marital coercion was a defence to most crimes under English criminal law and under the criminal law of Northern Ireland. It is similar to Duress in English law, duress. It was abolished in England and Wales by section 177 of the Anti-social Behavio ...
: that is, that her then husband coerced her into taking his penalty points. On 5 October 2012, the trial was adjourned until 14 January 2013 for "legal reasons" which were not disclosed. On 28 January 2013, Huhne was arraigned and pleaded "not guilty" to the indictment. A new trial date was set for 4 February 2013.
On 4 February Huhne pleaded guilty on re-arraignment, and was appointed to the
Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds
The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three "hundred (county division), hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal ...
, thus resigning his seat in Parliament and triggering a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
. He was remanded on unconditional bail until sentencing at a date to be notified.
In February 2013, at the
trial of Vicky Pryce it was revealed that
Constance Briscoe
Constance Briscoe (born 18 May 1957 in England) is a former barrister, and was one of the first black female recorders in England and Wales. In May 2014, she was jailed for three counts of doing an act tending to pervert the course of justice i ...
had been arrested in relation to statements she had made to police that she had not had any involvement with the leaking of the driving licence points-swapping story. Briscoe was arrested on 6 October 2012. She was later convicted, sentenced to 16 months in prison and stripped of her barrister role.
[ ] Prosecutor
Andrew Edis
Sir Andrew Jeremy Coulter Edis PC (born 9 June 1957), styled The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Edis, is a Lord Justice of Appeal ( Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales), having previously served as a High Court Judge.
Edis studied at Live ...
told the jury that Briscoe and Pryce had "started it together by approaching a man called Andrew Alderson (a journalist working for the Mail on Sunday)", falsely claiming that one of Huhne's aides, Jo White, took points for him in 2003. Edis stated that Briscoe was a neighbour and friend of Pryce and that the "two of them appear to have cooked up a plan" to bring about Huhne's downfall.
[
On 11 March 2013, Huhne and Pryce were each sentenced to eight months' imprisonment.] Huhne started serving his sentence in HM Prison Wandsworth
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service and is one of the largest prisons in the UK.
History
The prison w ...
but was reportedly transferred to HM Prison Leyhill
HM Prison Leyhill is a Category D men's prison, located in the parish of Tortworth in Gloucestershire, England. Leyhill Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
History
Leyhill Prison was originally a United States military hospital ...
in Gloucestershire. On the day after sentencing, David Burrowes
David John Barrington Burrowes (born 12 June 1969) is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chai ...
MP wrote to the Attorney-General Dominic Grieve
Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (born 24 May 1956) is a British barrister and former politician who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. He served as the Member of Parl ...
, asking him to exercise his power of referral to the Court of Appeal, as in Burrowes's view the sentences were too lenient. Grieve had until 8 April – 28 days after the original sentence – to decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, which has the power to increase sentences.
Huhne and his ex-wife were released on 13 May 2013, having both served two months of their eight-month sentences. Following their release, both were subject to electronic tagging
Electronic tagging is a form of surveillance that uses an electronic device affixed to a person.
In some jurisdictions, an electronic tag fitted above the ankle is used for people as part of their bail or probation conditions. It is also used in ...
. Huhne was required to stay in his home between 7 pm and 7 am. Huhne described prison as, "a humbling and sobering experience."Chris Huhne calls prison 'humbling and sobering experience' after early release
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
Writings
Books
*
Harold Lever
Norman Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester, PC (15 January 19146 August 1995) was a British barrister and Labour Party politician.
Early life
He was born in Manchester, the son of a Jewish textile merchant from Lithuania, and was educate ...
and Christopher Huhne, ''Debt and Danger: The World Financial Crisis'' (Penguin, London, 1986).
*Christopher Huhne, ''Real World Economics: Essays on Imperfect Markets And Fallible Governments'' (Penguin, London, 1991).
*Michael Emerson and Christopher Huhne (with a foreword by
Jacques Delors
Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (born 20 July 1925) is a French politician who served as the 8th President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. He served as Minister of the Economy, Finances and Industry (France), Minister of Finance of Fran ...
), ''The ECU Report: The Single European Currency, and What it Means for You'' (Pan Books, London, 1991).
*
James Forder
James Forder (born 1964) is a British academic / economist and Tutorial Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, University of Oxford. He is editor of ''Oxford Economic Papers''. He co-authored the book "Both Sides of the Coin" along with Chris Huh ...
and Christopher Huhne, ''Both Sides of the Coin: The Arguments For and Against the Euro and European Monetary Union'' (Profile Books, London, 1998).
Book chapters
*"Brussels and the European Economy" in
Graham Watson
Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 1994 to 2014. Watson was the chairman of the Parliament's committee on ci ...
and Joanna Hazelwood (eds), ''To the Power of Ten: Essays by the UK Liberal Democrats in Parliament'' (Centre for Reform, London, 2000).
*"Progressive Economics: Trust the People" in
Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson (born 1963) is a British political commentator and organiser.
Lawson was born in and brought up in the 1960s and '70s in Bexleyheath, South East London. He became interested in politics through his father, who was a printer in Fleet S ...
and Neil Sherlock (eds), ''The Progressive Century: The Future of the Centre-Left in Britain'' (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2001).
*"Global Governance, Legitimacy and Renewal" in
Paul Marshall and
David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil from 2001 United Kingdom general election, 200 ...
(eds), ''
The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism'' (Profile Books, London, 2004).
*"Globalisation" in
Stephen Barber (ed.), ''
The City in Europe and the World
''The City in Europe and the World'' () is a 2005 collection of essays examining the relationship between the City of London's financial markets, politics, government, and Europe, edited by Stephen Barber and with a foreword by Peter Mandelson.
T ...
'' (European Research Forum at London Metropolitan University, London, 2006).
*"The Economy and Climate Change" in Duncan Brack,
Richard Grayson and
David Howarth
David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005–10. He served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018. He is Professor of L ...
(eds), ''Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century'' (Politico's, London, 2007).
*"The Case for Localism: The Liberal Narrative" in Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth (eds), ''Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century'' (Politico's, London, 2007).
*"Green Growth" in Duncan Brack, Paul Burall, Neil Stockley and
Mike Tuffrey (eds), ''The Green Book: New Directions for Liberals in Government'' (Politico's, London, 2013).
*"Going Green Has to Be Fair" in Duncan Brack, Paul Burall, Neil Stockley and Mike Tuffrey (eds), ''The Green Book: New Directions for Liberals in Government'' (Politico's, London, 2013).
Pamphlets
*
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...
,
Alan Beith
Alan James Beith, Baron Beith, (born 20 April 1943) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who represented Berwick-upon-Tweed as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2015.
From 1992 to 2003 he was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democr ...
,
Frances Cairncross
Dame Frances Anne Cairncross, (born 30 August 1944 in Otley, England) is a British economist, journalist and academic. She is a senior fellow at the School of Public Policy, UCLA.
She formerly chaired the executive committee of the Institute f ...
,
Mark Goyder
Mark Goyder (born 11 June 1953) is a British author, governance expert and public speaker who is known for his work in the fields of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, stewardship and sustainability. He is the CEO and founder ...
,
Dieter Helm
Sir Dieter Robin Helm (born 11 November 1956) is a British economist and academic.
Career
Helm is Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Oxford, and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford.New College, University of Oxforprofile. ...
, Christopher Huhne, Robert Hutchison,
David Marquand
David Ian Marquand (born 20 September 1934) is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP).
Background and political career
Marquand was born in Cardiff; his father was Hilary Marquand, also an academic and former La ...
,
Nancy Seear, Christopher Smallwood and
Hilary Wainwright
Hilary Wainwright (born 1949) is a British sociologist, political activist and socialist feminist, best known for being a co-editor of '' Red Pepper'' magazine.
Early life and education
Wainwright's father was the Liberal MP Richard Wainwr ...
, ''People, Prosperity and Politics: A LINk Conference'' (LINk Publications, Hebden Bridge, 1989).
*
Richard Layard
Peter Richard Grenville Layard, Baron Layard FBA (born 15 March 1934) is a British labour economist, currently working as programme director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.
Layard was Senior Research ...
,
Willem Buiter
Willem Hendrik Buiter CBE (born 26 September 1949) is an American-British economist. He spent most of his career as an academic, teaching at various universities. More recently, he was Chief Economist at Citigroup.
Early life and education
Bu ...
,
David Currie, Christopher Huhne,
Will Hutton
William Nicolas Hutton (born 21 May 1950) is a British journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for ''The Observer'', co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chair ...
,
Peter Kenen
Peter Bain Kenen (November 30, 1932 – December 17, 2012) was an American economist, who was the Walker Professor of Economics and International Finance at Princeton University, and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on For ...
,
Robert Mundell
Robert Alexander Mundell (October 24, 1932 – April 4, 2021) was a Canadian economist. He was a professor of economics at Columbia University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences i ...
and
Adair Turner
Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell (born 5 October 1955) is a British businessman and academic and was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority until its abolition in March 2013. He is a former Chairman of the Pensions Commiss ...
, ''The Case For The Euro'' (Britain in Europe, London, 2000).
*Richard Layard, Willem Buiter, Christopher Huhne, Will Hutton, Peter B. Kenen and Adair Turner, ''Why Britain Should Join the Euro '' (Britain in Europe, London, 2002).
*
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
,
Edward Davey
Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 ...
, Chris Huhne,
Charles Secrett
Charles Secrett is an environmental activist and was head of Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1993–2003. He is an author and broadcaster on environmental topics.
Secrett was a member of the Labour Government's Comm ...
and Adair Turner, with a foreword by
Ralf Dahrendorf
Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...
, ''"Funding Society: Can Taxation Be Fun and Popular?" — Report of the Liberal Summer School, Guildford, 2001'' (Centre for Reform, London, May 2002).
*
Tony Robinson
Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series ''Blackadder'' and has presented several historical documentarie ...
,
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
, Chris Huhne and
Matt Carter, ''The Future of Political Parties: Tony Robinson, Theresa May, Chris Huhne, Matt Carter in Conversation'' (New Politics Network, London, 2007).
*Chris Huhne, ''Climate Change: The Science, the Geopolitics and the Economics'' (CentreForum, London, 2011).
Further reading
*
Adam Boulton
Thomas Adam Babington Boulton (born 15 February 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster who is regular panelist on TalkTV. He was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News, and presenter of '' All Out Politics'' and ''Week In Review''. He is ...
and
Joey Jones
Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former international football full-back who most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups.
Club career
Wrexham
Jones was born in Llandudno, and joined Wrexham in 19 ...
, ''Hung Together: The 2010 Election and the Coalition Government'' (Simon and Schuster, London, 2010).
*Chris Bowers, ''Nick Clegg: The Biography'' (Biteback, London, 2011).
*Matthew d'Ancona, ''In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government'' (Viking, London, 2013).
*Jasper Gerard, ''The Clegg Coup: Britain's First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George'' (Gibson Square, London, 2011).
*Robert Hazell and Ben Yong, ''Politics of Coalition: How the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government Works'' (Hart, London, 2012).
*Greg Hurst, ''Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw'' (Politico's, London, 2006).
*
David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil from 2001 United Kingdom general election, 200 ...
, ''22 Days in May'' (Biteback, London, 2010).
*______________, ''Coalition: The Inside Story of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government'' (Biteback, London, 2016).
*______________, ''Coalition Diaries, 2012-2015'' (Biteback, London, 2017).
*Simon Lee and Matt Beech (eds), ''The Cameron-Clegg Government: Coalition Politics in the Age of Austerity'' (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2011).
*
Anthony Seldon
Sir Anthony Francis Seldon (born 2 August 1953) is a British educator and contemporary historian. As an author, he is known in part for his political biographies of Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Ther ...
and Mike Finn (eds), ''The Coalition Effect, 2010-2015'' (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015).
*
Ann Treneman, ''Dave & Nick: The Year of the Honeymoon'' (Robson, London, 2011).
*Rob Wilson, ''5 Days to Power: The Journey to Coalition Britain'' (Biteback, London, 2010).
*__________, ''The Eye of the Storm: The View from the Centre of a Political Scandal'' (Biteback, London, 2014).
See also
*
Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving un ...
– Conservative politician imprisoned for perjury
*
Jeffrey Archer
Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...
– Conservative politician also imprisoned for perjury
*
Marcus Einfeld
Marcus Richard Einfeld (born 22 September 1938) is a former Australian judge who served on the Federal Court of Australia and was the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In retirement, he served two years ...
- Australian judge also convicted of perverting the course of justice over a speeding case
References
External links
*
Appearances on C-SPANColumn archiveat ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
*
Profileat ''
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
''
Collected news and commentaryat ''
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
''
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huhne, Chris
1954 births
Living people
21st-century English criminals
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
British journalists
British people convicted of perverting the course of justice
English politicians convicted of crimes
British prisoners and detainees
Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford
The Guardian people
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Labour Party (UK) politicians
Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs
Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies
MEPs for England 1999–2004
MEPs for England 2004–2009
People educated at Westminster School, London
People expelled from the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015