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Mr. Duffy’s lawyers have barred him from speaking to the press but he has told friends that he feels he has been thrown under the bus and that the Conservative PR machine is out to destroy him.

Sources close to the now-Independent senator at the centre of the expenses scandal said Mr. Duffy was recruited to present a “kinder, softer” face to the Conservative Party in the run-up to the 2011 election. Friends say he was told that political appearances on the Senate tab were not only tolerated, they were expected by the Prime Minister.

Mr. Duffy’s case for the defence is likely to rest on public statements by Mr. Harper that show he was comfortable the senator satisfied all residency requirements (the RCMP alleges Mr. Duffy broke the law by claiming a primary residence in Prince Edward Island, when his primary residence was really in Ontario). Back in February, Mr. Harper told the House of Commons that all Conservative senators conformed with the Red Chamber’s residency requirements. “That’s the basis on which they were appointed to the Senate and those requirements have been clear for 150 years,” he said.

Postmedia News reported Thursday that new senators, including Mr. Duffy and Pamela Wallin, were told that they could bill for certain partisan travel.

Also Thursday, the auditor general confirmed he will perform a comprehensive audit of the expenses of all senators.

Both developments will be welcomed by Mr. Duffy and Ms. Wallin, since it seems unlikely they will be the only senators who fall foul of the auditors. There are already rumblings that Liberal and Conservative senators will join forces to try to limit the scope of the audit to the 2011 and 2012 calendar years (Mr. Duffy and Ms. Wallin’s audits went back to include 2009 and 2010).