James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tory verdict on whose claims are defensible and whose aren’t

Paul Waugh reports that Michael Gove and Andrew Lansley will be doing interviews with the BBC about their expenses later on. This suggests a confidence on their part and that of Andy Coulson that their cases are explicable. Both seem to have genuinely changed which one was their first home for real life reasons rather than for financial ones; they’re not flippers in the perojative sense of the term.

Word is that Willetts, the man who can’t screw in a lightbulb, will also do the rounds. Alan Duncan has already done an appearance although sadly we didn’t get to see what one assumes must be his beautifully maintained garden. (One wag has suggested to me that Duncan should open it up to the public ,charging a couple of quid a time and repay the public purse that way).

By putting some of those attacked up for interviews and others not (if you see or hear of any others mentioned in the Telegraph doing the media let us know) CCHQ is sending a message about whose actions it thinks are indefensible. Any Tory at the centre of this storm who isn’t sent out to tell their side of the story should worry. 
 

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