Chris Huhne put on a brave show last night before his sentencing today for perverting the course of justice — by attending the wedding reception of his lawyer. The Londoner learns that around 200 people including actor Hugh Grant and PR guru Max Clifford turned out to celebrate the marriage of Charlotte Harris, a partner with law firm Mishcon de Reya, to financier James Burr at the Inner Temple.
Huhne was accompanied by his partner, Carina Trimingham, whom Harris represented in her unsuccessful privacy case against the Daily Mail, and was in a remarkably upbeat mood. He chatted to rival Labour MP Tom Watson who put his arm round his fellow parliamentarian in a conciliatory hug.
Huhne was also deep in conversation with PR Max Clifford and former Tory Cabinet minister John Selwyn Gummer and stayed late into the night, often laughing and joking at the reception.
“Chris is a very close and loyal friend of the couple and he wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” says a friend. The Londoner understands that Huhne spoke wrily about what prison life had in store and was slightly baffled by reports that he believes he will serve only six weeks in prison. “He has no idea what the sentence will be,” added the friend.
Perhaps Huhne was also in a good mood because of the endorsement he received from Nick Clegg, who said at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Brighton that Huhne was “an extremely powerful thinker and indeed a very effective secretary of state”.
Harris, who represented some of the phone-hacking victims at the Leveson inquiry, tells me this morning: “We are very happy.” She declined to release the guest list, pointing out this would be at odds with her role as a privacy lawyer.
