Oliver Wright: Huhne the bruiser will be a hard act to follow

Today’s departure of Chris Huhne from the Cabinet will, in the short term, make little difference to the Coalition or its policy agenda.

But its long-term consequences could be profound and unexpected.

Mr Huhne was never widely liked by colleagues but he was respected by both Tories and Lib Dems as a highly effective minister. He was a bruiser who was prepared to stand up to George Osborne in cabinet and fight the corner for his department.

His likely successor, Ed Davey, is better liked but his fighting skills are untested.

And this will be important. There is significant tension within the Government between those who believe that all Coalition policy must be secondary to the push for economic growth and those who argue that carbon emission reductions are too important to our long term future to put off.

Mr Huhne was is in the second camp – and was not afraid to use all the political weapons at his disposal to push his case.

In a battle with the Treasury Mr Davey will be in an intrinsically weaker position than Mr Huhne. He is inexperienced in the brief, will be new to the Cabinet and may not be as brazen as Mr Huhne at taking on the Chancellor and then (most suspect) leaking news of his triumphs to the press.

Mr Huhne’s departure may also have significant ramifications for the Liberal Democrats as a party as well.

He only narrowly lost out to Nick Clegg for the leadership and in May 2010 was known to have instinctively favoured a Lib/Lab Coalition.

If he is cleared of the charges he faces he would be ideally suited (outside the constraints of Cabinet responsibility) to be the opposition to Mr Clegg and the Lib Dems in Government.

Despite everything Mr Huhne has never given up the hope of one day becoming Lib Dem leader.

Ironically these charges could help him fulfil that dream.