After Tax, Lies and Audiotape and the inevitable sacking, we’ve had the further, considered response of the leader of the Conservative Party:
Howard Flight will not be a Conservative candidate at the next election.
And it seems the Arundel and South Downs Conservative Association are to heed the call of the dear leader and deselect the hapless, erstwhile Deputy Chairman.
So is this strong leadership from a Prime Minister in waiting, or a brutal over-reaction that illustrates an inability to judge the public mood? Will Flight swallow his medicine and quietly fade away, or will he spit feathers and go on to haunt Howard’s every waking moment?…(which as we all know, come between sunset and sunrise).
Only time will tell, but my hunch is that Howard has, by his actions, added at least a week to the longevity of this story. If the no-longer-honourable Mr. Flight makes any kind of statement between now and when he finally loses his job (if not his main source of income), then things may get much worse, difficult as this might seem to the embattled Tory leader as he heads into his Easter weekend.
As an aside, the Conservatives spent the best part of this week demanding the government surrender their attorney-client privilege and publish, in full, the legal advice given by Lord Goldsmith in the run up to war in Iraq. Right now, I’d say there’s a rather more persuasive argument for publishing the unexpurgated James Review.
The electorate could then decide for themselves whether the Count really can count.
