He’s lived a great life after prison. He spent 3 years at Oxford at someone else’s expense, he wrote books, had bits and pieces of work with the church, a few hours a week as prison chaplain, married very well, He was much much more than dishonest. All the things that led upto his libel case against the Guardian. He was Minister of State for Defence Procurement and violated ministerial rules by allowing an Arab businessman to pay his hotel bills at the Paris Ritz. Also whilst a Cabinet Minister he signed a Public Interest Immunity Certificate which gagged documentation being released from a company covering the time he was a director of that company. Then a few years later had to resign as Chief Secretary to the Treasury for breaking more ministerial rules. When the Guardian finally broke their story, it included the procurement of prostitutes for Arab businessmen. Then came his chutzpah in suing the paper and Granada TV for publicising all this. Then the collapse of the trial when evidence proved he was lying plus of course as part of this his attempts to get his wife and daughter to perjure themselves. What exactly has he done to make amends? He went bankrupt owing over £2m in unpaid legal bills What public service has he given, apart from the oft publicised bit of prison chaplain work? What price has he exactly paid? 7 months in prison and then feted thereafter by the C of E and right wing papers who publish multiple interviews with him which provide sanitised versions of his behaviour. Compared with most prisoners, he’s had a great post prison life. Society wedding at upmarket church, upmarket flat, parliamentary pass to Houses of Parliament, pension way above average wage. What’s not to like?
