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Energy secretary hopes referral to Essex police will draw line under controversy, but David Cameron offers qualified support
Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, has said he would welcome an inquiry by Essex police into career-threatening claims that he made his estranged wife take penalty points on his behalf for a car speeding offence he committed in 2003.
No 10 indicated it would not expect him immediately to stand down if the police did launch an official investigation.
Huhne is expected to appear in the Commons to make a statement on plans to cut carbon emissions. He had intended only to make a written statement, but Huhne was already facing Labour accusations of running scared, and it is likely the Speaker might anyway summon him to detail his plans to parliament.
His estranged wife, Vicky Pryce, locked in an acrimonious separation battle with Huhne, alleges she took the penalty points on his behalf, and is now fuelling the claims in the media. In a secretly recorded conversation Huhne is alleged to have urged the person he was talking to not to give the story legs. It has been suggested Pryce, a distinguished economist furious at the way in which her husband conducted an extramarital affair and then deserted her, recorded the conversation herself.
Repeating a formulation Huhne originally used when the story emerged in the Sunday Times nine days ago, he appeared in front of the cameras on Monday to assert the claims were incorrect. He added the allegations had been "made before and been shown to be untrue". "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."
Mixed signalsemerged from No 10 with David Cameron in public giving Huhne only qualified support. Huhne met the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, to try to reassure him the claims were untrue.
The reassurance led to a statement by the prime minister's spokesman saying Huhne retained the full confidence of Cameron, but the spokesman was careful not say Downing Street endorsed Huhne's claim that the allegations were false.
In private some Downing Street officials were dubious Essex police is capable of holding an inquiry due to inadequate paper records about a relatively minor driving offence nearly a decade ago, or it may take the view that if it did conduct an inquiry, it would be a case of one person's word against another.
In a worrying development for Huhne, Pryce was reportedly speaking at a seminar at the London School of Economics in the early evening of 12 March 2003. The disputed speeding offence was said to have taken place on that evening, making it unlikely she could have been speeding in a car in Essex so soon afterwards.
Huhne was an MEP at the time. He subsequently did lose his licence for driving while on a mobile phone.
Huhne himself will be concerned by the impact of the row on the welfare of his three children from the marriage, and that may restrain him from hitting back in public.
Although some Conservatives in the cabinet would shed few tears if the combative Huhne were forced out of the cabinet, he also has cabinet political allies in surprising parts of the Conservative party. Clegg may privately query Huhne's ultimate loyalty to his leadership, but his party, struggling at 10% in the polls cannot afford to lose another effective Liberal Democrat contributor to cabinet.
Huhne has fought intense policy battles with the chancellor, George Osborne, including over today's climate change statement, and the loss of political support of such a key figure could prove fatal.
The Liberal Democrat party president, Tim Farron, seen as a potential eventual rival for the party leadership, sprung to Huhne's defence saying he did not think the energy secretary would have to stand down from the cabinet if there was a full police investigation into the allegations.
He said: "If there's an investigation, there's an investigation. But he denies it. Tony Blair remained prime minister while he was investigated, I imagine Chris Huhne can just about cope with being energy secretary."
Norman Lamb, Clegg's parliamentary aide, is probably the man the deputy prime minister would recommend to replace Huhne.
Essex police appointed a senior officer to undertake initial inquiries. Det Supt Tim Wills was charged with looking into the allegations after Labour MP Simon Danczuk lodged a formal complaint with police against Huhne.
Essex police said: "We are aware of allegations around a speeding offence which is believed to have occurred in 2003. A senior detective from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate has been appointed to establish if this offence took place and the allegations around it.
"We take allegations such as this one extremely seriously and will take action where necessary."