Rory Stewart compares Liberal Democrats to the Taliban

Last week Pandora, the Independent's diary column, revealed that Rory Stewart (aka Lawrence of Belgravia), the Tory PPC for Penrith and the Border, had likened the Lib Dems to the Taliban during a Westminster lecture:

Stewart, who apparently quipped that while "neither go away" they would also "never form a government", failed to see the funny side following my call. The event, he grandly assured me, was subject to Chatham House Rules – normally in fairness reserved for rather weightier political matters.

It was also made clear that bridges would be well and truly burnt should I dare relay this most inflammatory of exposés to my scandal-hungry readers.

No sense of humour then, our Rory.

I would be more outraged at this myself if I had not begun a Guardian article as follows in 2001:

Fierce, bearded and wedded to an impenetrable ideology. Not a description of the Taliban, but the average commentator's view of the Liberal Democrats.