Support 100 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
16 May 2011

Huhne’s future remains uncertain

David Cameron refuses to express full confidence in Huhne during Q&A session.

By George Eaton

It remains unclear whether Chris Hune will be forced to step down if the police open an investigation into the speeding points claims.

At this morning’s lobby briefing, the Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted that Cameron had “full confidence” in the Energy Secretary and noted that Tony Blair had not stepped down during the cash-for-honours inquiry. But during a Q&A session following his speech on the NHS, Cameron refused to express confidence in him, merely noting that Huhne had “denied the allegations”.

The Essex police are still officially deciding whether to launch an investigation into Huhne, with Detective Superintendent Tim Wills commenting: “We take any allegations of criminal offences extremely seriously. However, an investigation will not be formally launched until our inquiries show that an offence has been committed. This is the work that my team and I will be carrying out this week.”

In the meantime, Huhne has broken his silence with the following statement:

Select and enter your email address Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. Your new guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture each weekend - from the New Statesman. A weekly newsletter helping you fit together the pieces of the global economic slowdown. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.

All I want to say is simply that these allegations are simply incorrect. They have been made before and they have been shown to be untrue. And I very much welcome the referral to the police as it will draw a line under the matter . . . I don’t want to say any more than that. I think the police can get to the bottom of this.