The Daily Mail is in full morally outraged mode this morning, accusing Energy & Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne of hypocrisy after his 26 year-old marriage ended at the weekend because of a one year adulterous affair.
The Mail (as Guido Fawkes had already done) pointed out that Mr Huhne, MP for Eastleigh, had used his family to defend his wafer thin majority at the last General Election. One leaflet contained a series of photographs from his family life including one of him getting married and another stating: "Family matters so much to me. Where would we be without them?"
Just as David Laws was criticised by his Tory opponent at the last election after his expenses story, The Mail quotes Eastleigh Tories who find Mr Huhne's behaviour "deplorable".
Cllr Godfrey Olsen, leader of the Conservative group on Eastleigh Borough Council leads the charge:
"He obviously went to great lengths to gain an advantage over his opponents in the election by presenting himself as a happy, family man when all the time he was having an affair away from home. He was trying to sell himself as a person of high integrity who believed in the family life and marriage when he was being thoroughly dishonest. That is deplorable, and I think most people would class him as a hypocrite."
The Tory candidate Mr Huhne defeated in Eastleigh, Maria Hutchings, used more regretful words:
"He actually published a magazine in which he said his family mattered very much to him and asked where would he be without them. A lot of people have been affected by this. I just think the whole thing is very, very sad."
Support for Mr Huhne came from blogger Iain Dale. His affair, Iain blogged, does not change the fact that he is "one of the most talented LibDems in the Commons".
I tried to express my own view on the sad episode on Saturday. While adultery might not be a resigning issue it is not a insignificant matter either. Adultery is not just unethical it is a private choice with public consequences. Family breakdown is a great driver, for example, of social ills. At the same time we are all frail creatures and The Mail's angry journalism doesn't take us very far.
Tim Montgomerie
