Politicians must pay for their mistakes

Published on 06/02/2013 00:00

I found it difficult to agree with anything Chris Huhne said when he was Secretary of State for energy and climate change in the coalition government.

Nonetheless he was that rarest of beasts in the House of Commons: an intellectual and linguist of the highest calibre, educated at the Sorbonne and Oxford.

We all make mistakes and we all pay the price so it would be a poisonous person indeed who found pleasure in his humiliation and the ruination of his political
career.

The film star David Niven claimed that if he had been locked up for the unpardonable sin and the key thrown away, his friend Noël 
Coward would visit him every day. I think that is just about the nicest thing that could be said about anyone and I hope Chris Hulme has friends and colleagues with similar loyalty.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

Chris Huhne’s admission of guilt is typical politician-speak: “having taken responsibility for something that happened ten years ago” ie “this was something so minor I can’t even remember it – and anyway, it was so long ago that no-one else can either”.

However, there is surely no point in sending him to 
prison – I would have thought that to have the world read those awful texts from his son announcing that he hated his father and wanted nothing more to do with him would be a worse punishment than a prison sentence.

And unlike Huhne snr’s spin, Huhne jnr’s comments are clearly spoken from the heart. How sad for this 
family.

(Dr) Mary Brown

Dalvenie Road

Banchory

Former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne is facing jail after he admitted perverting the course of justice over a speeding offence.

His parliamentary salary must stop immediately and there should be no severance or resettlement packages. If a police officer is found guilty of a criminal offence then he or she immediately forfeits any pension rights.

MPs have lucrative pensions, paid for by the reluctant taxpayers.

It would show that “we are all in this together” if Huhne is immediately stripped of his pension entitlement.

Should I hold my breath?

Clark Cross

Springfield Road

Linlithgow

I am annoyed. Here is 
another politician of some standing who is prepared to lie through his back teeth, trying to blame someone else for his misdeeds with a total disregard for the cost to 
the taxpayer. Politician 
personified! He should now have to repay to the taxpayer every penny that it has cost in bringing this matter to court since his first plea of “not guilty”.

Ron Macdonald

Sutherland Drive

Kinross

Chris Huhne admits his guilt regarding perverting justice. We await sentencing, prison conversion to Roman Catholicism and future career in television punditry. Perhaps an appearance as guest presenter of BBC1 quiz show Pointless. Too soon?

Neil Sinclair

Clarence Street

Edinburgh