ON-THE-RACK minister, Paymaster General David Willetts, comes up with an intriguing explanation for the crucial note he wrote in an apparent attempt to take some of the heat off the government in the cash-for-questions affair.
His suggestion - as a government whip at the time - that the Commons committee investigating the former trade minister Neil Hamilton should use its Tory majority to rush through the inquiry was not, he says, an attempt to influence the committee.
No, it was the work of a new, keen whip trying to impress his masters with what an eager beaver he was - in the hope that it would boost his chances of promotion.
Mr Willetts has blown that aim already with his exposure as a furtive string-puller, whatever the motive.
But if he wants to own up to being a creep as well, who are we to argue?
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