Tweet in haste - delete fast ... @ No 10

Arturo was tutting today. I dread seeing him in this mood - there's always a lecture coming on! Sure enough - I was right!

"Why do humans 'act in haste and repent at leisure?'" He asked. "Or - you could ask 'why do fools rush in where angels fear to tread?'"

This was becoming tedious! I knew if I kept quiet - he was bound to draw my attention to something he had either read or seen.

"Take for instance - Chris Huhne." He said.

Personally, I wouldn't touch this Huhne chap with a barge-pole - but I was intrigued.

"You know he's the LibDem Minister for Energy and Climate Change?" Arturo quizzed. "Some choice, eh? He's already in loads of hot water, so he'll do his best to keep the temperature down!" He chuckled.

I left Arturo debating with himself and went to study the papers about this Huhne character. There was plenty to find!

The Daily Mail has the headline: 'From someone else fine, but I do not want my fingerprints on that story': Embarrassment for Chris Huhne after accidental tweet
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046710/Chris-Huhne-Twitter-embarrassment-accidental-fingerprints-tweet.html#ixzz1aDH2IrS8)

Now, you'd think the Minister for Energy would have had a bit more nous than that, wouldn't you? I mean - he is a minister, isn't he? But he obviously has itchy fingers and can't keep them off the keypad.

So - what was this tweet? Well - if it's true he didn't want the world to read it - Boy, is he in trouble! Every paper and radio news broadcast repeated it in full. The tweet read as follows:

'From someone else fine but I do not want my fingerprints on the story. C'

Now that is interesting! 'I do not want my fingerprints on the story'. What 'story' might that be, I wonder? In the Daily Mail article, Tim Shipman writes:

Mr Huhne's critics say he has a reputation for enhancing his standing and belittling that of his colleagues by privately briefing journalists

Ah! Ha! I thought, a reputation for 'briefing' against colleagues! Doesn't sound like any 'colleague' I'd want!

In today's Daily Telegraph, Robert Winnett, and Martin Beckford, under the title 'Speculation over Chris Huhne's 'fingerprints' tweet' write:

Mr Huhne, the Energy Secretary, is known to have had a volatile relationship with other senior members of his party, including Nick Clegg and Vince Cable. When he ran against Mr Clegg for leadership of the Lib Dems in 2007, he had to apologise after one of his team wrote a dossier titled “Calamity Clegg”.

So - poor old Clegg suffered at the hands of this Huhne character! I thought LibDems were sandal wearing smoothies! But producing a 'dossier' like this doesn't seem very smooth. In fact I'd say, it's downright 'rough'.

The article adds:

Paul Richards, a Labour blogger, wrote: “Having studied his MO, Huhne’s story will be designed to do down Osborne on climate change, based on leaked Cabinet papers/info.”

Now - that is what I call, 'playing with fire!' If, Georgy was the intended victim - and I do say if, then 'Machiavelli' Huhne had better watch out. You would not want to mess with Georgy!! No, siree! Even if it was from the shadows and the 'fingerprints' had been removed!

But, of course, Huhne has given another explanation. The one that is quoted by the Daily Telegraph article is that he:

had merely intended to send a private message to a member of staff, concerning a new angle on the ongoing row over a pet cat and the Human Rights Act

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8814848/Speculation-over-Chris-Huhnes-fingerprints-tweet.html

So - this Huhne character appears to go from one disaster to the next. You could say that he's a political version of the Titanic - excepting that unlike the Titanic, he rushes round looking for an iceberg on which to impale himself!

'Bye'