Did Boris Johnson really call Jeremy Hunt a 'wanker?'

It appears so...

At last night's rally Boris Johnson suggested a politicians' Olympics, including "Jeremy Hunt banging the bell-end"- so says the Gruaniad.

Sadly this section of his speech doesn't appear to be available on YouTube or (unsurprisingly) on the Conservative's official website.

Lib Dems let Hunt off the hook

Lib Dem Voice reports that all 57 Lib Dem MPs will abstain on a Labour motion to hold an independent investigation into whether Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt broke the ministerial code.

The effect of this action is to give the Tories a majority - so its effect is no different from supporting him.  It is a ludicrous position to be in - if the party doesn't think Hunt's position is tenable it should say so and vote accordingly.  As this blog  argued back in April  - Hunt is toast anyway - and the more decisive the action against him the better it is for both parliamentary standards and the reputation of the coalition in dealing with sleaze.

Abstention reinforces the widely held view that Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems are the Tories poodles and will do nothing to promote the new kind of sleaze free cooperative politics that the coalition was supposed to represent.

It also shows that the civil service rules on collective governmental responsibilities are totally unsuitable for coaltition politics.  If the coalition is to survive then the rules of engagement between the parties have to change.  Coalition is not a marriage - it is a short term working arrangement.  And the rules need to reflect that.

Hunt should resign

Jeremy Hunt's coat as the Scots say is 'on a shoogly peg' and the resignation of his special adviser is clearly an exercise in backside covering.  And as the enquiry and evidence slowly emerges it will only get worse for Hunt - not better - even if he can muster a robust defence.  The vultures have circled and they will get their flesh.

The coalition set out to be different - less sleazy and more open than previous governments.  The grip of collective responsibility was supposed to be loosened to allow the two parties space to reflect their differences.

Well here is one area where the differences between Conservative and Lib Dems are vast (and indeed between the Lib Dems and Labour).  While senior Tory and Labour politicians bent over backwards (or indeed forwards) to accomodate the Murdoch monster, Lib Dems stood alone.  Vince Cable's comment that saw him removed from the BSkyB decision process, that he was going to war with the Murdochs was not news.

Nick Clegg should now demand Hunt goes.  This time two years ago he was an-anti politician - standing up against the vested interests, sleaze and expense ridden politicians.  He needs to reassert that side of him if he is ever to have a chance of rehabilitation in voters' eyes.  Hunt is toast and the longer he drags out the inevitable the worse for him and the coalition.  If Hunt wants to come back at a later date, the sooner he does the honourable thing the better for him.

And if Clegg is the catalyst for a swift resignation he can reassert both his independence and start to reclaim his anti politics inheritance from Labour who are desperately hoping we forget their complicity in the Murdoch love fest.

And by way of reminder that Labour are in as deep as the Tories - where did Mili minor go on day one of his leadership?  You guessed it...