Why Laws should be fine

The reason why I believe David Laws will remain as Chief Secretary to the Treasury is, unfortunately, not because he's done little wrong, not because he's a very good politician and economist. It is not because he has cross-party respect in the house. Although I believe all of these things to be true, I believe David Laws will not be sacked because of more calculated political reasons.

David Cameron knows full well that the election we've just been through wasn't really fought on expenses, in the main - and that was just a year after the furore. The next election won't take place for 5 years and this expenses issue will not be fresh in the public consciousness by then.

No, the real reason why Cameron won't sack Laws is, unfortunately, for fear of losing any more of the 'pink' vote. The Tory party already has a poor-enough record on gay rights and David is not here the 'victim' of two separate 'scandals'. (Not that being gay is in any way a scandal to anyone other than the right-wing media and a small corner of the population.) He is part of an expenses scandal *because* he tried to keep his sexuality secret. If Cameron sacks a man from his cabinet who claimed what was in fact less than he would have been able to claim if he'd have 'come out', that will strike an even worse blow for his own image than a 5-year-old memory of a cabinet minister who broke a few rules and claimed some money.

It's unfortunate that this is the reason, but I believe it's not overly cynical to propose that this might be the case. If Laws is sacked, it will *appear* that Cameron has sacked a member of his cabinet for coming out. You and I know this would not be the actual case, but that's how it would appear. Cameron should know that with his party's own homophobic image already, this shit will stick a lot longer than one more politician filling the trough. Sad, but true.