'Oh, so that's who Richard Morris is..." Lord Hattersley on The Daily Politics

'An influential activist' - The Guardian

'Iain Dale, without the self loathing' - Matthew Fox in The New Statesman

'
You are a tinker...' - Tim Farron

Saturday 5 April 2014

List of folk who have been dragged into the Maria Miller affair

While Maria Miller sits firmly in the centre of the media storm over her expenses, there is an ever burgeoning list of other folk who now find themselves dragged into it. How long does this list have to get before Maria Miller resigns I wonder?

1. David Cameron - who wrongly said the lay members of the Standards committee had the casting vote on Maria Millers expenses claim investigation, and must also now regret saying the following (h/t @samcoatestimes and @magsnews


2. The 10 MPs who sit on the Standards Committee - who I don't think don't come out of this looking especially good, probably through no fault of their own. The headline in The Telegraph the other day for example....

3. The 3 lay members of the Standards Committee - who the PM cited as clearing Miller.

4. The Standards Commissioner Kathryn Hudson, whose recommendations to the Standards Committee were so watered down, begging the question did she get it wrong - though I now see a statement has been put out (see the end of the linked piece) 'explaining'  how the commissioner and the committee could had drawn such different conclusions...

5. Joanna Hindley, the spad accused of attempting to bully The Telegraph by reminding them of Maria Millers links to Leveson. I wonder if her position is the most vulnerable. Remember Jeremy Hunt and Adam Smith?

6. Craig Oliver - who appears to be accused of generally trying to intimidate journalists into dropping the story...


How many other names will be dragged into this over the weekend I wonder?

UPDATE

Now Grant Shapps has been dragged in - claiming on Marr that not a single activist raised the issue with him at Conservative Spring Conference yesterday (which says a lot about Tory activists) and refusing three times on BBC 5 Live to say he gave her his full backing when pressed by Jon Pienaar







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