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Which is to say that in fact he accepts the premise — that he was kept in the dark by his subordinates — but refuses to accept its logical implications: that they should all have been “held accountable,” as he says Wright was.

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But the award for conspicuous bravery in the face of the facts must go to Duffy’s lawyer, Don Bayne. To the charge of accepting a bribe, Bayne offers the defence that his client was blackmailed into it. It wasn’t that Duffy had demanded to be paid the $90,000 in return for his participation in a scheme to present a false picture to the public, both as to the extent of his expense fiddling and his remorse for it. No, no, no. He had only agreed to take part in the scheme, including the $90,000 payment, because the Conservatives made him do it.

The evidence for Duffy’s reluctance, it should be said, is scant. To be sure, there were aspects of the deal that he objected to. He was certainly adamant that he would make no public acknowledgment of any wrongdoing on his part. And though he seemed at first willing to accede to Wright’s demands that he repay the expenses out of his own pocket, in the end he refused to do that, either.

But as to the rest? I can find no evidence of Duffy objecting to the attempts to spare him from the Deloitte & Touche audit the Senate committee on internal economy had commissioned: in fact, his lawyer demanded it (“The internal economy committee will confirm that Sen. Duffy has been withdrawn from the Deloitte review.”) He does not appear to have been opposed to the committee exonerating him: again, his lawyer demanded it. (“It will assure him that his expenses are fully in order to date.”) And he certainly didn’t object to being reimbursed for his expenses. (“As his apparent ineligibility for the housing allowance stems from his time on the road on behalf of the party, there will be an arrangement to keep him whole on the repayment.”)