Tory Leader Resigns After Breaking Rules

No, not Cameron (he is far too busy worrying about his hair-line at the moment) but Giles Chichester.

Come on, you must have heard of Giles Chichester, he is the Tories leader in Europe - well he was until earlier today when he was forced to stand down for breaking funding rules in the European Parliament.

Not exactly a Derek Conway style incident, but still not the most helpful news ever for the whiter-than-white Tories.

I also like the fact that he insisted he had made a "technical" breach of the rules and was acting "in good faith". You will remember from past instances that the Tories like to talk about "institutional sleaze" and "systematic sleaze" that "beggars belief" when Labour figures are caught not declaring funding properly - but when the Tories are caught out it is an "individual error" and a "genuine mistake".

Does John Major still think it is like the 1990s, I wonder.

Illegal funding investigations have taken place in David Cameron's local constituency and into Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's office - I wonder what they think now the allegations have spread Europe wide? You can't really argue that away as an "error at a local level".

At least if the Lib Dem's Leader in Europe had done something similar they could have argued that he didn't necessarily speak for the party. It's therefore lucky they don't have similar embarrassment awaiting them on the horizon, like their biggest donor being taken to court for his alleged involvement in a series of multi-million pound frauds. Very lucky indeed.
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