On the troubles of Chris Huhne

I've been following the Chris Huhne story with a certain amount of weariness and disinterest. I mean, I don't know whether he got his estranged wife to to accept speeding points on his behalf. I don't know he or his wife and (judging by this nasty little spat) I don't ever want to know either of them. But there is something intuitively plausible about this story. Because Chris Huhne comes across as utterly ghastly. He seems to be the sort of person who would fuck you over not just to get ahead, but also to assert a curiously misplaced sense of superiority over you. And this comes across in his desperation to lead the Liberal Democrats. Quite why anyone would want to lead Britain's second-rate third party - especially at the moment, when leading it is effectively taking a deep swip from a not just poisoned but also utterly toxic chalice? I guess because it would make Huhne important; it would make him a leader. Which would make him better than you, my non-leader reader.

There is an air of undeserved smugness around Chris Huhne - that unpleasant air of arrogant mediocrity. He comes across as someone who believes he should be in Parliament - and therefore have some sort of control over you - for no other reason than he just plain thinks he knows better than you. And if other people have to fall by the wayside in order for him to get ahead - if he has to abdicate personal responsibility to others for his own mistakes to get ahead - then that's absolutely fine with it.

Which leads me to the point of this post, and my question - what is about being a politician that turns most people into being the sort of self-serving shit you would cross the street to avoid?