A former Cabinet Minister once jailed for lying to dodge a speeding ticket has been caught breaking the road laws again – and this time he confessed to being behind the wheel.
Chris Huhne was one of the high-flying Lib Dem ministers in the party’s 2010 coalition government with the Conservatives, serving as Energy Secretary under the leaderships of David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
But his political career came crashing down when it was revealed that in 2003 he had asked his then-wife Vicky Pryce to lie and say she was driving his car when it was caught speeding.
Huhne and Ms Pryce both ended up being sentenced to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.
Last week, Huhne was embroiled in court proceedings once more over a speeding offence on June 28 this year on the A4 in Earl’s Court, west London.
He had been behind the wheel of a Tesla when it was clocked at 38mph, well above the 20mph limit.
Huhne, now 71, confirmed in writing that he had been driving, when written to by the Metropolitan Police.
He then pleaded guilty to speeding, with his case dealt with under the Single Justice Procedure without an open court hearing.
Huhne wrote in mitigation: “I am very sorry to have committed this offence on this road.
“My only plea in mitigation is that I have occasionally been driving along the Cromwell Road west out of London since my twenties (when I lived nearby) and the speed limit on what is a dual carriageway has been reduced from 40 to 30 and not to 20.
“I will try to pay more attention to such changes in future.”
Huhne was issued by a magistrate with a £666 fine, costs of £85, and a victim surcharge of £266.
He was also handed four penalty points for his licence.
The former politician, who had been the MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire, resigned from the government in February 2012 when he was charged with perverting the course of justice.
Ms Pryce had sparked the downfall after revealing that she had accepted penalty points on his behalf for a March 2003 speeding offence on the M11 between Stansted Airport in Essex and London.
At the time, Huhne was an MEP and had nine points on his licence already, so would have been facing an automatic driving ban.
The incident was revealed in the aftermath of Huhne having an affair and ultimately leaving his wife.
Out of politics, Huhne went into the private sector to work as a consultant, including for a US energy giant.
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