[7] Huhne was joined by other former Liberal Democrat ministers including Vince Cable and Norman Lamb, and claimed that News had not hacked him just for tabloid titillation but as an attempt to remove him as a critic and to spy on the Government in its intentions on whether to refer Murdoch's Sky bid to the competition authorities.

After he was elected as a Member of the House of Commons on 5 May 2005,[21] Sharon Bowles, the candidate third on the Liberal Democrat list, replaced Huhne as representative for the South East of England.

David Chidgey, the previous MP for the constituency, was also a Liberal Democrat who won his seat in what was historically a Conservative area in a by-election in 1994 following the death of Stephen Milligan.

Following his election to the House of Commons then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy made Huhne the party's shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

[17] In this role Huhne led the party's debate on the 2005 Finance Bill, suggesting that amendments should be made to stop a pensions loophole which would have allowed a 40% discount on property and other investments.

[17] Huhne stood against Sir Menzies Campbell and Simon Hughes for the Liberal Democrat leadership following Charles Kennedy's resignation, formally launching his campaign on 13 January 2006.

[25] Although the majority of Liberal Democrat MPs declared their support for Menzies Campbell, Huhne did receive endorsements from some party notables including Lord Maclennan and William Rodgers.

[27] Campbell appointed him as the Liberal Democrat's environment spokesman in the subsequent frontbench reshuffle, in order for Huhne to develop a viable programme to expand on his green campaign themes.

[29] The document stated: "Chris Huhne is campaigning for the Lib Dem leadership on a green, carbon-neutral platform, and further advocates increasing tax for the wealthy, which would include himself.

He described the Israeli response in Lebanon to Hezbollah's rocket attacks as disproportionate and counter-productive, arguing that a strong Lebanese state is in Israel's long-term interest.

[44] During the leadership election, Nick Clegg registered a formal complaint about Huhne's conduct to Chris Rennard, the party's Chief Whip and returning officer.

The Home Secretary's announcement was in response to warnings by police and the security services that the growing fragmentation and complexity of communications was hindering their tackling of terrorism and organised criminality.

"[53] In January 2009, Huhne was credited with uncovering an instance of data loss of government information caused by a courier company losing a computer disc containing bank details of up to 2,000 public servants working for the British Council.

"[56] Huhne was an avid supporter of Professor David Nutt after he was dismissed by Home Secretary Alan Johnson as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in November 2009.

[58] Cannabis had been re-classified as a class C drug in 2004 by then Home Secretary David Blunkett, only for Jacqui Smith to reverse the ruling in 2008, a decision taken despite official advisers recommending against it.

[62] Following the 2010 general election, Huhne became a member of the Liberal Democrats' key negotiating team alongside Danny Alexander, David Laws and Andrew Stunell that brokered the agreement to go into a governing coalition with the Conservatives.

[63] Following the negotiations and the formation of a full coalition Huhne was appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the tenth most senior minister in the new government.

"[68] In June 2010, Huhne supported the cancellation by the Business Department of an £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters which had been pledged by the preceding Labour government to build power plant components.

The gathering, at which over 190 countries were represented, announced a deal to curb climate change which Prime Minister David Cameron described as a "very significant step forward.

[73] Huhne described the deal as a "serious package" of measures but acknowledged that there was still more work to do prior to the next climate change meeting in Durban, South Africa, the following year.

Huhne denied the charge until the trial began on 4 February 2013 when he changed his plea to guilty, resigned as a member of Parliament, and left the Privy Council.

In a subsequent article for the Guardian during his second period of writing a weekly column for the paper, he said that he believed he was targeted by Rupert Murdoch's News Group newspapers because of the support he had given, while Shadow Home Secretary, for the re-opening of the police investigation into phone-hacking.

From 2014 to 2018, Huhne was the senior adviser for the trade body that represents renewable natural gas (biogas) plants in the UK, the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA).

[94] Huhne is or was a member of the European Movement, Green Lib Dems, Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists and the National Union of Journalists.

Prior to his careers as a financial journalist, analyst and politician, Huhne wrote four books that are mainly on the themes of either Third-World debt and development, or European integration.

More recently, he contributed to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005) and two articles to Reinventing the State (2007) edited by Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth.

[104] At a private hearing in October 2011, a judge in the Crown Court at Chelmsford ordered The Sunday Times to produce email messages between Pryce and the newspaper's political editor in relation to the police investigation.

[108] Starmer created some controversy about the prospect of a fair trial by personally announcing on television on 3 February 2012 that both Huhne and Pryce had been charged with perverting the course of justice.

Pryce entered a plea of not guilty, and indicated a defence at trial of marital coercion: that is, that her then husband coerced her into taking his penalty points and that she committed the crime in his presence.

[113] In February 2013, at the trial of Vicky Pryce it was revealed that Constance Briscoe had been arrested in relation to statements she had made to police that she had not had any involvement with the leaking of the driving licence points-swapping story.