To Zero from Hero

The name Chris Huhne is no longer a strange one in the British society. He has been in the news since the present Conservative and Liberal Democratic collision came to power in 2010 when he was appointed as the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change. A Secretary of Sate in the UK is similar to a minister in Sri Lanka.

Huhne who was graduated in Politics from the University of Oxford started his political carrier as a member of the European Parliament in 1999 representing South East England from the Liberal Democratic Party. He was elected to the British parliament in 2005 and in 2010 became a prominent cabinet minister of the government.

He was only narrowly defeated by Mr Clegg for the party leadership in 2007.

Huhne was married to Greek-born economist Vicky Pryce (formerly Chief Economist in the Department for Business ) since 1984 shortly after she divorced her first husband, with whom she had two daughters. The new couple had three children together. Huhne was caught fast driving on a motorway but convinced the police that he was not the driver at the time of the offence but his wife Vicky. Police believed that and fined her for the alleged offence.

In late 2010 Huhne was photographed spending a night with Carina Trimingham, a party worker and admitted that he is involved in a relationship with her. He said he has decided to leave his wife to be with Carina. His wife filed for divorce and it was granted in January 2011.

The Director of Public Prosecutions announced on February 3, 2012 that both Huhne and Pryce had been charged with perverting the course of justice. Huhne immediately resigned from the Cabinet. Neither of them pleaded guilty and the matter was set for trial.

Pryce entered a plea of not guilty, and advanced a defence at trial of marital coercion: that is, that her then husband coerced her into taking his penalty points. On February 4, Huhne pleaded guilty and resigned from his seat in parliament triggering a by-election. He was remanded on unconditional bail. The ex-wife was convicted for the alleged offence after a retrial.

There was another part to this story. In October 2012 a Barrister and a Part Time Judge Constance Briscoe was arrested for aiding the ex-wife to cook up a plan to bring about the down fall of Huhne by falsely claiming that one of Huhne’s aides, Jo White, took points for him in 2003.

They tried to hide the fact that the ex-wife taking the blame for the high speed drive. That backfired and Briscoe is also facing possible charges for allegedly lying to the police over the story.

Now everything is over. They both were sentenced to eight months imprisonment by Justice Sweeny at Southwark Crown Court last Monday. He described Pryce as “controlling, manipulative and devious” and said Huhne lied repeatedly to police and the court. He further said both have “fallen from a great height but committed a flagrant offence of its type”, and the offence “strikes at the very heart of the criminal justice system”.

Huhne joins the club of some other ministers including Lord Archer and Jonathan Atkins who were given longer sentences sometime back. They both were convicted for perverting the course of justice. There were number of MPs sent to prison from both side of the chamber last year for false accounting and misuse of public funds.

The Huhns might come out in four months or may be a little earlier but their entire lives have been turned upside down and will not be the same ever again.

When the love turn to hatred it produces the most macabre hell on earth.