There has been some chuntering among the old-school factions in the House of Commons about the attire and deportment of Tim Yeo. The Tory MP, who under Michael Howard was simultaneously shadow minster for education, health, environment and transport, was deselected as a Tory candidate in 2013, so he can only stay as an MP until the 2015 election.
He was cleared of a lobbying scandal in 2012 but his constituency felt he’d rather neglected them during it, and gave him the boot. Far from being downcast, The Londoner has learnt that Yeo is demob happy. “As a Super Minister Yeo was always meticulously groomed, in recent months he has become more scruffy,” says one politician. “I saw him at the HS2 vote in shirtsleeves. He is behaving like a schoolboy who knows he is leaving at the end of term so has decided to flagrantly ignore all the petty rules.” What does Yeo say to this? A rep in his office says: “I’ll tell him you called.”
A couple of hours later, his office does indeed call back to report that Yeo says he has "never, ever voted in Parliament in shirtsleeves."
