David Laws.

So, David Laws, newly appointed Cheif Secretary to the Treasury has resigned. The first casualty of the new coalition government.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Laws had been paying rent to his male partner and claiming it as expenses. At first my reaction was to feel sorry for the man. Whatever my own views may be on homosexuality, I could not help but pity him, trying to keep his private life private, a relatively innocent victim in a much larger political scandal. However the more that I have thought about it, the more angry I have become.

Throughout the election campaign we had to listen to Clegg and the rest of his party taking a holier than though attitude regarding expenses, and yet through all of this Laws was still fiddling the system as far as I can see. Surely during all of the scandal of the last year, all of the political careers ruined, Laws should have thought that even if it meant exposing some details of his private life that he would rather keep private, it was best to come clean? Or at least stop what he was doing? It really does beggar belief.

The only saving grace as far as I can see is that this new coalition government has dealt with this first crisis quickly, quietly and most importantly effectively. There have been no excuses, lLws has gone and hopefully we can move on, he may even be able to salvage some of his political career.

Digressing slightly, this cartoon made me chuckle :)