Johnson sacked
Michael Howard has sacked party vice-chairman (and culture spokesman) Boris Johnson over the allegations he had an affair with Spectator columnist, Petronella Wyatt.
Details aren't clear (but probably will be after tomorrow's tabloid headlines) but according to the BBC he was sacked not for the affair (which he denies, ish) but for lying about it (very ish, presumably).
This is obviously not a reason for sacking someone, as it doesn't make sense. If it represented a new 'back to basics' campaign by Michael Howard, then clearly we should expect John Redwood to be next to go. It doesn't of course, as Howard's own position is not particulary good on this issue.
I imagine the reason he was sacked was for the good reason that basically on some days the 'affair' has become the Tory party story, and not a particularly attractive one.
Update I: If you can't wait, the Scotsman has the headlines. The News of the World has the details
Update II: One has to criticise Michael Howard's judgement. When he said only last week that Johnson's Spectator was 'political viagra' and Boris should 'keep his end up' he was clearly referring to the affair, which implies he must have thought it was true and that Johnson was lying about it. So why did he find it a source of amusement last week, and a sacking matter today?
Update III: The BBC reports: "An associate editor of The Spectator, Rod Liddle, described the sacking as "a terrible mistake"". Neutral observer there.
Update IV: Johnson claims that he did not mislead Howard, and that he realised he couldn't continue in both jobs and was planning to quit anwyay.
posted by Matthew @ 11/13/2004 11:56:00 PM
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