Quote of the week
South Thanet Conservatives, Chairman John Holmes apparently commenting on the appointment of Laura Sandy's ''We were looking for someone like Jonathan and we found one. She's a woman, but she's just like Jonathan!''*
The Tories should have an easy win, in South Thanet, with Laura Sandy's as their candidate at the general election assuming they think before speaking, and that the Labour Party don't sort themselves out.
Whenever I think of Jonathan Aitken, I always have a mental picture of him bleating about his trusty sword of truth, and we all know where that got him, let's just hope that the chairman of Thanet South Conservatives has got it wrong which I'm sure he has.
* Isle of Thanet Gazette 20th October, 2006
Wikipeadia has this to say about Aitken:
ReplyDeleteAitken was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months, of which he served seven. During the trial, his wife Lolicia, who later left him, was called as a witness to sign a supportive affidavit to the effect that she had paid his Paris hotel bill, but did not appear. In the end, with the case already in court, investigative work by Guardian reporters into Swiss hotel British Airways records showed that neither Victoria nor Lolicia had been in Paris at the time in question.
Aitken was unable to cover the legal costs of his trial and was declared bankrupt. As part of the bankruptcy, his trustees settled legal actions against the magazine Private Eye, over the various claims it had made that Aitken was a "serial liar". He also became one of the few people to resign from the Privy Council (another such person was John Stonehouse).
Aitken's wife and three daughters turned up to support him when he was sentenced. The daughters included a previously unacknowledged daughter by Soraya Khashoggi, ex-wife of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. On DNA testing at the age of 18, she had turned out to be Aitken's, though Mr Khashoggi had previously accepted her as his own.
Political comeback foiled
In 2004, his proposed return to British politics, in which he was supported by his former constituents, was vetoed by Conservative Party leader Michael Howard. Aitken later confirmed that he would not attempt a return to Parliament. He is quoted as saying: "The leader has spoken. I accept his judgement with good grace." However, Michael Howard's decision is immaterial, as former prisoners are barred from standing for Parliament. He denied rumours he was to stand as an independent candidate insisting that he was not a "spoiler". Consequently a return to full time politics looked unlikely. However, on 2 October, he attended the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) conference and announced his support for the party.
I see the pie hole's being put to good use again.
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