Rifkind's Kensington seat up for grabs - but beware jinx
Malcolm Rifkind is not the first Conservative member for Kensington to leave under a cloud
So, with the walls closing in, Sir Malcolm Rifkind has done the decent thing. Not only has he stood down as chair of the Commons Intelligence and Secutrity Committee, but as Conservative MP for Kensington too.
Having had the Tory whip removed yesterday by Michael Gove while an investigation decides whether he committed any wrong-doing, it was going to be very difficult for Kensington Conservatives because, technically, he was no longer a Conservative MP.
In a personal statement issued this morning, Rifkind conceded that it was "unlikely that it [the investigation] will be able to finish its deliberations until well into March and there, obviously, can be no certainty as to its conclusions. I am conscious, therefore, that Kensington Conservatives are faced with serious uncertainty until the end of March as to whether I will be able to be their candidate."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rifkind said he had intended to stand one last time in Kensington before retiring. Instead, he leaves now under cloud - and he is by no means the first Tory MP in this constituency to do so.
As Andrew Pierce of the Daily Mail pointed out on Sky News last night, Nick Scott was de-selected as the Kensington and Chelsea MP in 1997 after being found drunk in the gutter at the Tory party conference.
He was hurriedly replaced by the womanising Alan Clark who boasted of bedding a former judge’s wife and her two daughters. After Clark died, K and C adopted carpetbagger Michael Portillo, hotfoot from his memorable defeat in Enfield Southgate in 1997.
Portillo quit Kensington and politics in 2005 after failing to beat Iain Duncan Smith for the Tory leadership. Rifkind then got the seat, and continued to hold it after Kensington and Chelsea became just plain Kensington in 2010.
It's bad luck on Boris Johnson who, rumour has it, desperately wanted Kensington when he decided last year to return to Westminster - but had to make do with Uxbridge and South Ruislip when Riflkind refused to step aside. Still, perhaps he's done well to escape the jinx.
Number Ten will be relieved that Rifkind is finally off. There was apparently alarm that he was refusing yesterday to go quietly, with David Cameron desperate to distance the Tory election campaign from the 'cash for access' scandal.
Whether Rifkind and his fellow 'stingee' Jack Straw actually broke any parliamentary rules has yet to be discovered: but their behaviour in front of the secret cameras was enough to leave a very nasty taste in the public mouth.
Rifkind's departure from the Intelligence and Security Committee comes as a relief, too. His predecessor in the role, Labour’s Kim Howells, made it clear on Newsnight that Rifkind had to step down to stop the committee “being dragged down”.
The committee, which reports directly to the Prime Minister, is so secret that its meetings are held in camera and rarely publicised. Howells feared its role in providing oversight of Britain’s spooks would be damaged by the knowledge that its chairman was stupid enough to get caught in a media sting that was as obvious as an old Soviet honey-trap.
Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports today that Straw is poised to take a job after he steps down as an MP with a furniture firm, Senator International, for whom he successfully lobbied to get government contracts.
He may not have broken any rules, but as Andrew Pierce told Sky News: “It stinks.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - April 21, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - devilish decrees, biblical blunders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 carefully selected cartoons about the Trump-Daniels jury selection process
Cartoons Artists take on a stress-free life, rare peers, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Loire Valley Lodges review: sleep, feast and revive in treetop luxury
The Week Recommends Forest hideaway offers chance to relax and reset in Michelin key-winning comfort
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
It's the economy, Sunak: has 'Rishession' halted Tory fightback?
Today's Big Question PM's pledge to deliver economic growth is 'in tatters' as stagnation and falling living standards threaten Tory election wipeout
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why your local council may be going bust
The Explainer Across England, local councils are suffering from grave financial problems
By The Week UK Published
-
Rishi Sunak and the right-wing press: heading for divorce?
Talking Point The Telegraph launches 'assault' on PM just as many Tory MPs are contemplating losing their seats
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet, The Week UK Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
How the biggest election year in history might play out
The Explainer Votes in world's biggest democracies, as well as its most 'despotic' and 'stressed' countries, face threats of violence and suppression
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Good democracies include their poorest citizens. The UK excludes them'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published