Chris Huhne

Huhne was born in west London to businessman Peter Paul-Huhne and actress Ann Murray.[7] He was educated at Westminster School.[8]

He attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a Demy and editor of Isis.[9] He also attended the Sorbonne, Paris.[10][11] At Oxford, Huhne edited the student magazine Isis, served on the executive of the Oxford University Labour Club, and achieved a first-class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).[10][12] He was active in student politics, supporting the Labour Party.[10]

Huhne was Brussels correspondent of The Economist from 1977 to 1980, and then economics editor, leader writer and columnist for The Guardian,[13] and economics editor, assistant editor and columnist for The Independent on Sunday. He was the business editor of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday during its investigations into Robert Maxwell's fraud on the Mirror group pension fund. He started as an undercover freelance reporter in India during Indira Gandhi's emergency when western journalists had been expelled. He also worked for the Liverpool Echo and The Economist as its Brussels correspondent between 1977 and 1980. He won both the junior and senior Wincott awards for financial journalist of the year in 1980 and 1989 respectively.[14] Along with his work in newspapers and magazines he co-wrote the book Debt & Danger: The World Financial Crisis (Penguin, 1985) with Harold Lever, and wrote Real World Economics (Penguin 1990).[13]

Before embarking on his political career, he started a company in the City. He told The Independent in 2008: "I don't claim that I'm in other than a very happy position compared with most people, because, having spent a bit of time in the City before I was elected, being able to make a bit of money while I was there, I have a cushion."[15] He started a company called IBCA Sovereign Ratings in 1994 that tried to "measure the risks of investing in different countries".[15] In 1997 he became group managing director of Fitch IBCA, and from 1999 to 2003 was vice-chairman of Fitch Ratings.[15]

Huhne contested the 1983 general election as a Parliamentary candidate for the SDP–Liberal Alliance in Reading East coming second,[16] and in the 1987 general election he was the SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate in the Oxford West and Abingdon seat,[16] a seat that would be won ten years later by Liberal Democrat candidate Evan Harris.[17]

Following his election to the House of Commons then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy made Huhne the party's shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.[16] In this role Huhne led the party's debate on the 2005 Finance Bill, suggesting that amendments should be made to stop a pensions loophole which would have allowed a 40% discount on property and other investments. In the pre-budget report for 2006, the Chancellor conceded the change.[16]

Huhne stood against Sir Menzies Campbell and Simon Hughes for the Liberal Democrat leadership following Charles Kennedy's resignation, formally launching his campaign on 13 January 2006.

Huhne was able to carve out a distinctive position on the issue of green taxation . He argued for a radical expansion of taxes on pollution, allowing for reductions in the income tax rate on the lowest paid.[23] This theme endeared Huhne to environmentalists and market liberals alike, allowing him to pick up supporters as the campaign went on. He also argued for a repeal of elements of the Labour government's anti-terrorism legislation, which many felt had undermined British civil liberties, and for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq within a year. He described himself as a 'social liberal'.[24]

Although the majority of Liberal Democrat MPs declared their support for Sir Menzies Campbell, Huhne did receive endorsements from some party notables including Lord Maclennan and William Rodgers. Amongst the media, The Economist and The Independent supported his leadership bid. He was backed from early on by a number of bloggers, and gained much momentum from an internet campaign.[25]

In the final vote, Huhne finished runner-up, tallying 21,628 votes to Sir Menzies Campbell's 29,697.[26] Campbell appointed him as the Liberal Democrat's environment spokesman in the subsequent frontbench reshuffle, in order for Huhne to develop a viable programme to expand on his green campaign themes.[27]

During the election campaign, a news story in The Independent on 27 February 2006,[28] reported that an unsigned document entitled "Chris Huhne's Hypocritical Personal Share Portfolio" was being circulated at Lib Dem leadership election meetings. The document alleged that Huhne had invested in companies that the document described as "unethical".[28] The document stated: "Chris Huhne is campaigning for the Lib Dem leadership on a green, carbon-neutral platform, and further advocates increasing tax for the wealthy, which would include himself. However, his shareholdings include, or have included, mining companies, oil companies and tax shelters."[28]

The intellectual energy surrounding Huhne's leadership campaign did much to inform the Liberal Democrats' recent political agenda. His proposals for realigning green taxes and income tax – the green tax switch – were at the heart of the fiscal package endorsed at the party's September 2006 conference.[29]

Huhne was involved in developing his party's thoughts on climate change and the environment, including a consideration of the challenges and opportunities they create for British businesses.[30] He also drew attention to what he said was the divergence between the Conservative Party's environmental rhetoric and its policies.[31]

Huhne was one of fourteen MPs forming an all-party parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism in the UK. Their report criticised boycotts of Israeli academics as "an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange" and accused "some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists [...] of using criticism of Israel as 'a pretext' for spreading hatred against British Jews".[32] Huhne is, however, a critic of Israeli government policy in the Middle East, and strongly supports the creation of a separate Palestinian state. He described the Israeli response in Lebanon to Hezbollah's rocket attacks as disproportionate and counter-productive, arguing that a strong Lebanese state is in Israel's long-term interest.

In March 2007 it was falsely reported that he had written to executives at Channel 4 to try and stop their showing The Great Global Warming Swindle.[33] In an e-mail exchange with Iain Dale, Huhne stated that he only wrote to ask for the channel's comments,[34] and The Daily Telegraph later ran a correction and apologised for the misunderstanding, saying it was happy to accept that "Mr Huhne's letter was not an attempt to prevent the film being shown or suppress debate on the issue".[35]

After Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg announced his intention, during the 2007 party conference, to stand for the leadership should Sir Menzies Campbell retire, Chris Huhne, when asked about his leadership ambitions, said that there was: "no vacancy, and it would be premature to even talk about the position of there being a vacancy".[36]

Following Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation on 15 October 2007, Huhne was considered to be one of the strongest contenders for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats.[37] On 17 October, he became the first member of the party to announce his candidacy, saying "I've decided to give it a go" and declaring his vision of a "fairer and greener society".[37] Huhne said that he wanted the party to be committed to the idea that "everybody's individual worth and chance is given its full possibility."[37]

On 28 October 2007, Huhne announced that he had secured the support of 10 of his 62 parliamentary colleagues for his formal nomination. His rival Nick Clegg announced the support of 33 MPs.[38] Huhne also claimed backing from at least twelve peers, four MSPs, and three Welsh Assembly members. After former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown announced his support for Clegg, a previous Liberal leader Lord Steel declared his support for Huhne, based in part on Huhne's position on the Trident nuclear programme.[39]

In the last week of campaigning, his team were bullish about his chances, predicting a win.[40] In the final count, the party membership chose his rival Nick Clegg by a narrow margin of 511 votes out of more than 41,000 counted.[41][42]

About 1,300 postal votes were caught up in the Christmas post and missed the election deadline. An unofficial check of the late papers showed Huhne had enough votes among them to hand him victory. Huhne stood by the result, saying: "Nick Clegg won fair and square on the rules counting the ballot papers that arrived in by the deadline. There is no question of any re-run."[6] Following the leadership election, Clegg chose Huhne to be the party's Home Affairs Spokesman.[43]

During the leadership election, Nick Clegg registered a formal complaint about Huhne's conduct to Chris Rennard, the party's Chief Whip and returning officer.[44] Clegg stated that his rival was indulging in: "the politics of innuendo, mounting false challenges and running a campaign that is handing political ammunition to the party's political opponents."[45] Huhne and Clegg were debating on live television on BBC's The Politics Show on Sunday 18 November 2007, when presenter Jon Sopel produced a briefing document that had been specially delivered to the show's production team by the Huhne campaign team on the preceding Friday.[46] The document excoriated Clegg on a number of policy and political issues and was titled "Calamity Clegg".[47] When challenged about the document, Huhne claimed that he had no knowledge of it and said he did not agree with the document title but agreed with the points within it.[48] Asked how it was possible that he had no knowledge of such a major document sent to the producer of the show he was due to appear on, Huhne replied: "It's quite impossible to check everything that goes out of the office... But I can assure you that's not had my authorization."[49] After Clegg complained about what he called "dirty tricks" and other senior party members condemned the Huhne campaign attack, Huhne's campaign manager Anna Werrin claimed that the title of the memo was just the product of an "over-zealous researcher" and had not been seen or approved by Huhne or any senior campaign officials prior to release. "The document title had not been approved before the document was sent out and neither Chris nor I were aware of it."[50]

Speaking to the Independent on 21 November 2007, Huhne claimed: "Unfortunately it was a mixture of responsibilities. It was an over-zealous young researcher who was responsible for drawing up the document." The researcher was not on his staff, he said, denying that, as a former journalist, he might have been expected to read what was put out in his name before it was issued.[51]

David Cameron and Nick Clegg outside the Houses of Parliament, with Huhne in the background

In October 2008, as Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, Huhne led the Liberal Democrat response to the government's announcement of plans to expand the capacity to collect records of people using electronic communications. The Home Secretary's announcement was in response to warnings by police and the security services that the growing fragmentation and complexity of communications was hindering their tackling of terrorism and organised criminality. But Huhne disagreed with the government's response to the police and security services, saying: "The Government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."[52]

In January 2009, Huhne was credited with uncovering an instance of data loss of government information caused by a courier company losing a computer disc containing bank details of up to 2,000 public servants working for the British Council. Huhne blamed the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the government for the courier company's loss and said that the incident was an example of why the UK should not have identity cards: "This is another instance in a long line of slapdash data protection by government departments. If Whitehall cannot look after its own data records it should not be trusted with the personal information of every citizen as it wants with the identity card scheme."[53]

On 6 November 2007, Huhne made remarks about the Speaker of the House of Commons on the BBC television programme Newsnight in which he claimed that the Speaker, Michael Martin, had fallen asleep during a speech by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "The Speaker unfortunately fell asleep during Gordon Brown's speech ... I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that, but he reacted in an entirely understandable way to what was not the most riveting of parliamentary occasions."[54] After the remarks were repeated in several publications, Huhne made a public apology to the Speaker in the House of Commons on 8 November in which he withdrew his prior comments. "It was wrong of me to draw the Chair into a matter of political dispute. I hope you will accept I intended no personal offence and fully withdraw my comments."[55]

Huhne was an avid supporter of Professor David Nutt after he was dismissed by Home Secretary Alan Johnson as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in November 2009. Nutt had criticised the government's decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug rather than keeping it as a class C.[56] Huhne said the decision to sack Nutt was "disgraceful" and commented: "what is the point of having independent scientific advice if as soon as you get some advice that you don't like, you sack the person who has given it to you?". Attacking the government, he said that if they did not want to take expert scientific advice they might as well have a "committee of tabloid newspaper editors to advise on drugs policy".[57] Cannabis had been re-classified as a class C drug in 2004 by then Home Secretary David Blunkett, only for Jacqui Smith to reverse the ruling in 2008, a decision taken despite official advisers recommending against it.[57]

As part of The Daily Telegraph investigation into expense claims by MPs, Huhne was reported to have claimed for various items including groceries, fluffy dusters and a trouser press. In 2006, he claimed £5,066 for painting work on his garden fences and chairs.[58] He collected £119 for a Corby trouser press from John Lewis but later said he would repay the cost in order "to avoid controversy". He later claimed on a live Channel 4 news programme that he needed the trouser press to "look smart" for work.[59] Huhne's office running costs during the 2007/2008 financial year were the 206th highest out of 645, his second home claims were 580th highest (or 65th cheapest) out of 645, and his total expense claims were below average, ranking 418th most expensive.[60]

Huhne was one of sixteen ministers whose assets were held in a blind trust.[61]

A vocal environmentalist, Huhne accepted the role of Secretary of State with the stated intention of making the nation more ecologically conscious. Among his first actions was launching National Wind Week by speaking at an event in London's Leicester Square on 15 June 2010.[64][65] Underscoring his personal commitment to wind power, Huhne erected an 8-foot wind turbine at his constituency home in Eastleigh.[66]

In government, Huhne maintained a flexible approach on the subject of nuclear energy, advocating the three-pronged portfolio approach to energy: a commitment to nuclear energy; the development of more renewable energy, such as wind and sea power; and new carbon-capture technology to mitigate the damaging environmental effects of fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial facilities. In an interview with The Observer in March 2011, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Huhne stated that: "there are a lot of issues outside of the realm of nuclear safety, which we will have to assess. One is what the economics of nuclear power post-Fukushima will be, if there is an increase in the cost in capital to nuclear operators."[67] This represents an evolution of his approach to the nuclear issue.[67] In 2007, Huhne was quoted as saying: "Nuclear is a tried, tested and failed technology and the government must stop putting time, effort and subsidies into this outdated industry."[67]

In June 2010, Huhne supported the cancellation by the Business Department of an £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters which had been pledged by the preceding Labour government to build power plant components. He was criticised by Labour Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband who said that the money for the loan had been set aside and would have resulted in at least £110 million returning to the Exchequer. On 1 July 2010, Huhne replied to Miliband saying: "The loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was not a commercial loan. If it was a commercial loan it would have been arranged through the banks and not by the government. It was precisely because of the public subsidy element, and the fact that the public subsidy element was not affordable, that the government decided not to proceed with it."[68] The cancellation of the loan was one of a number of projects agreed by the previous Labour government cancelled in an announcement to the House of Commons on 17 June 2010.[69][70][71]

On 9 December 2010, Huhne represented the United Kingdom at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The gathering, at which over 190 countries were represented, announced a deal to curb climate change which Prime Minister David Cameron described as a "very significant step forward."[72] The agreement struck in Mexico included a recognition that deeper cuts in carbon emissions were needed and that a fund should be set up to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions.[72] Huhne described the deal as a "serious package" of measures but acknowledged that there was still more work to do prior to the next climate change meeting in Durban, South Africa, the following year.[72] Following the conference, David Cameron said that his government would be the "greenest ever" and that Britain would meet its international obligations regarding climate change.[72]

Huhne was an enthusiastic supporter of the AV campaign (Alternative Vote Referendum) and attacked anti-AV campaigners such as his cabinet colleague, Conservative Party chairman Baroness Warsi.

If Baroness Warsi thinks that AV will benefit fascism she has to explain why the BNP wants to stick with what we have and Operation Black Vote supports AV. The BNP know the present system is their only chance of election. This is another example of the increasingly Goebbels-like campaign from the anti-AV people, for whom no lie is too idiotic given the truth is so unpalatable to them. AV makes lazy MPs work harder and reach out beyond their tribe. It is what Britain needs to clean up politics.[73]

On 3 February 2012, Huhne resigned from the Cabinet when he was charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case. His wife at the time, Vicky Pryce, had falsely claimed that she was driving the car, and accepted the licence penalty points on his behalf so that he could avoid being banned from driving. Huhne denied the charge until the trial began on 4 February 2013 when he changed his plea to guilty, resigned as a member of Parliament, and left the Privy Council.[74][75][76] He and Pryce were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 11 March to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.[77] He served nine weeks[78] of this sentence at HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire before he was released.[79]

On 5 February 2013 Huhne resigned as an MP following his plea of guilty to perverting the course of justice. In a subsequent article for the Guardian during his second period of writing a weekly column for the paper, he said that he believed he was targeted by Rupert Murdoch's News group newspapers because of the support he had given, while Shadow Home Secretary, for the re-opening of the police investigation into phone-hacking.[76][80][81] The subsequent police investigation led to the prosecution and conviction of Andy Coulson, formerly editor of the News of the World.

Apart from climate change, "Electoral reform" is among the personal interests that Huhne cites on his biography on the official Liberal Democrats website. He describes his other interests as "European single currency, economics, Third World debt and development, Europe".[93]

Huhne is or was a member of the European Movement, Green Lib Dems, Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists and the National Union of Journalists.

Prior to his careers as a financial journalist, analyst and politician, Huhne wrote four books that are mainly on the themes of either Third-World debt and development, or European integration. His latest book is entitled Both Sides of the Coin (1999, with James Forder), in which he argues the case for British membership in the euro. His first was Debt and Danger (Penguin Special, 1985), an analysis of the 1984 Third World debt crisis co-written with Lord Lever of Manchester, the former Labour cabinet minister.

He was a contributor to The Orange Book (2004), in which he advocates reforms to the United Nations and international governance. Huhne was critical of the most controversial article in the Orange Book, in which David Laws proposed an insurance-based National Health Service. He did not take part in the successor volume, Britain after Blair and has voiced dismay at the way its predecessor was presented as a break with the party's social liberal traditions. More recently, he contributed to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005) and two articles to Reinventing the State (2007) edited by Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth. These cover the case for localism in which Huhne argues that there is no contradiction between localism and equality, and the need for environmental policy to tackle climate change.

Huhne has also written articles for Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman.[94] While an MEP, he wrote a weekly column for the London Evening Standard on European matters.

• Harold Lever and Christopher Huhne, Debt and Danger: The World Financial Crisis (Penguin, London, 1986).
• Christopher Huhne, Real World Economics: Essays on Imperfect Markets And Fallible Governments (Penguin, London, 1991).
• Michael Emerson and Christopher Huhne (with a foreword by Jacques Delors), The ECU Report: The Single European Currency, and What it Means for You (Pan Books, London, 1991).
• James Forder and Christopher Huhne, Both Sides of the Coin: The Arguments For and Against the Euro and European Monetary Union (Profile Books, London, 1998).

• "Brussels and the European Economy" in Graham Watson and Joanna Hazelwood (eds), To the Power of Ten: Essays by the UK Liberal Democrats in Parliament (Centre for Reform, London, 2000).
• "Progressive Economics: Trust the People" in Neal Lawson and Neil Sherlock (eds), The Progressive Century: The Future of the Centre-Left in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2001).
• "Global Governance, Legitimacy and Renewal" in Paul Marshall and David Laws (eds), The Orange Book (Profile Books, London, 2004).
• "Globalisation" in Stephen Barber (ed.), The City in Europe and the World (European Research Forum at London Metropolitan University, London, 2006).
• "The Economy and Climate Change" in Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth (eds), Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century (Politico's, London, 2007).
• "The Case for Localism: The Liberal Narrative" in Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth (eds), Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century (Politico's, London, 2007).
• "Green Growth" in Duncan Brack, Paul Burall, Neil Stockley and Mike Tuffrey (eds), The Green Book: New Directions for Liberals in Government (Politico's, London, 2013).
• "Going Green Has to Be Fair" in Duncan Brack, Paul Burall, Neil Stockley and Mike Tuffrey (eds), The Green Book: New Directions for Liberals in Government (Politico's, London, 2013).

• Paddy Ashdown, Alan Beith, Frances Cairncross, Mark Goyder, Dieter Helm, Christopher Huhne, Robert Hutchison, David Marquand, Nancy Seear, Christopher Smallwood and Hilary Wainwright, People, Prosperity and Politics: A LINk Conference (LINk Publications, Hebden Bridge, 1989).
• Richard Layard, Willem Buiter, David Currie, Christopher Huhne, Will Hutton, Peter Kenen, Robert Mundell and Adair Turner, The Case For The Euro (Britain in Europe, London, 2000).
• Richard Layard, Willem Buiter, Christopher Huhne, Will Hutton, Peter B. Kenen and Adair Turner, Why Britain Should Join the Euro (Britain in Europe, London, 2002).
• Charles Kennedy, Edward Davey, Chris Huhne, Charles Secrett and Adair Turner, with a foreword by Ralf Dahrendorf, "Funding Society: Can Taxation Be Fun and Popular?" — Report of the Liberal Summer School, Guildford, 2001 (Centre for Reform, London, May 2002).
• Tony Robinson, Theresa May, Chris Huhne and Matt Carter, The Future of Political Parties: Tony Robinson, Theresa May, Chris Huhne, Matt Carter in Conversation (New Politics Network, London, 2007).
• Chris Huhne, Climate Change: The Science, the Geopolitics and the Economics (CentreForum, London, 2011).