‘Huhne had one law for himself another for others’

A BARRISTER and part-time judge held disgraced former energy secretary Chris Huhne in the same regard as his ex-wife Vicky Pryce, despite considering him a “hypocrite”, a jury has been told.

Constance Briscoe said press revelations were a good thing. Picture: Getty

Constance Briscoe, 56, is on trial accused of lying to police about how she allegedly helped Ms Pryce reveal to the press that she took speeding points for Mr Huhne in 2003.

She told a jury at Southwark Crown Court in south London yesterday that, after learning about the incident, she thought the Cabinet minister was behaving as if he had “one law for himself, another for others”.

Asked about her views on Mr Huhne, she said: “I had taken the view that he was lying when he said that he hadn’t got Vicky to take his points in 2003.

“I thought he was a hypocrite, because I saw him on the telly and in the papers saying that it hadn’t happened, which it had.

“I thought he was someone in the Cabinet who seemed to have one law for himself and one for others, and I took the view that it was in the public interest to give an account for what he did, I think that was a good thing.”

But Briscoe said she stood by a statement given to police in May 2011, that she held the pair, who were her neighbours in Clapham, in the same regard.

The court heard that Briscoe had met up with Pryce as two Sunday papers were preparing to publish the story, but denied helping her to draw up legal agreements.

Briscoe, who has been suspended since her arrest in October 2012, denies three counts of intending to pervert the course of public justice.

The trial continues.