Guido has just blogged that he was offered the video of Alan Duncan complaining that MPs live on rations and are treated like sh-ts back in June. If Guido had run it then, Duncan would have been in far bigger trouble and might well have ended up being sacked. The expenses story was still much rawer then, the whole press corps would have been in full pursuit and Cameron would have had to answer questions about whether Duncan could stay or not in every interview he did.
Duncan’s comments, though, again call into question his judgement. One can say that it was a bit underhand of someone to take advantage of Duncan like this, but as Fraser said on the radio this morning it was incredibly foolish of Duncan to sound off like this to someone who he had never met before and who he knew to be a prankster.
I doubt very much that Cameron will sack Duncan now, too many Tory MPs have some sympathy with what Duncan said — if not how he said it — and Cameron sacking Duncan would probably prolong the story. But I suspect that this incident has hardened the leadership’s resolve to keep Duncan out of the Cabinet if the Tories get into government.
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