AS the Jeffrey Archer scandal engulfs the Tories and threatens to produce more damaging chapters, party leader William Hague suffers the bitter experience of how sharply fortune can turn around in a week in politics.
Indeed, even less than a week ago, he was roaring along the comeback trail - having floored the government in the Commons in the Queen's Speech debate, made capital out of Labour's fiasco over the choice of candidates to be London's mayor and made sharp cuts in Tony Blair's opinion-poll lead.
Today, he sees his party once more steeped in allegations of sleaze and wrongdoing and is personally damaged by his own endorsement of the lying Lord Archer as the Tory runner for the London mayoralty.
Mr Hague can only hope that his own swift and ruthless retribution that has made the peer a political pariah will limit the harm to himself and his party - but he cannot hope it will erase it.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article