Monday 24 September 2007

First wife beating, now shoplifting!

After Andrew Pelling's (alleged) altercation with his good lady, another senior Tory has found himself in a spot of legal bother:

Coronation Street star-turned-Tory blue-eyed boy Adam Rickitt was facing political ruin last night after being caught shoplifting.

Rickitt, one of Tory leader David Cameron's 100 A-listers, had hoped to secure a safe seat at the next General Election.

But his political aspirations could be destroyed after he tried to walk out of a supermarket in Auckland, New Zealand, with a block of cheese, a bottle of HP sauce and a jar of coffee.

Last night Rickitt - who is starring in popular in New Zealand TV soap Shortland Street - was in tears as he apologised for his actions.

He said: "I recently found out some very upsetting news. I was feeling helpless to deal with it because of the distance.

"I was so stressed-out that without thinking during my weekly shop I failed to pay at the checkout for a jar of coffee, a bottle of HP and cheese."

You'd think that, as an actor-turned-politician (i.e. as someone who specialises in deceiving people, one way or the other), he could at least have come up with a more imaginative excuse!

In more bad news for the Tories, the latest MORI poll has shown them lagging 8% behind Labour (up from 5% at the start of the month). As Conservative Home puts it, "it's now going to be difficult for Brown not to call an autumn election"! Still, with both an MP and an "elite" parliamentary candidate arrested within the space of a week, it's hard to see how, short of David Cameron actually murdering someone, things can get all that much worse...

Hat-tip: House of Dumb

3 comments:

JuliaM said...

"You'd think that, as an actor-turned-politician (i.e. as someone who specialises in deceiving people, one way or the other), he could at least have come up with a more imaginative excuse!"

Hey, it worked for Richard 'Fingers' Madeley!

Tim J said...

C'mon! Senior Tory?

Fulham Reactionary said...

"C'mon! Senior Tory?"

Well, perhaps "senior" was putting it a bit strongly, but as one of the original crop of A-list candidates he has been elevated somewhat above the average party member. 'High profile' might have been a better way to put it, although that could hardly apply to Andrew Pelling - at least, not until this week.