Barry Everingham writes:

Andrew Peacock just can’t leave bad enough alone – being caught driving over the limit and crashing a car, at his age! According to the Sydney Morning Herald, police were called to a service station on New South Head Road in Rushcutters Bay, in Sydney’s east, about 1.30am yesterday after a 2005 model Mercedes-Benz hit a power pole. Peacock was charged “after a breath analysis allegedly showed a 0.08 blood-alcohol content.”

The former golden boy of politics lived a charmed life in spite of his vanity and, who knows, he could have been admiring himself in a car mirror and not noticed the light pole. Peacock watchers claim he is so conscious of himself that at dinners he has been seen catching a glimpses by holding up a spoon between courses. Always close to the edge, Andrew catapulted to prominence when the first of his three wives, Susan Rossiter, now Lady Renouf, modelled bed sheets in the late 1960’s causing a mild storm – in a desert spoon?

Andrew put on his angry look and threatened to resign – he was army minister and his threat wasn’t taken seriously and it all blew over. That’s been Andrew’s problem – being taken seriously. The Liberals thought he’d make a good prime minister but Howard got under his guard; his famous mobile phone conversation with Jeff Kennett, which was overheard and played ad nauseum on Melbourne radio stations, was the official start of the Howard-haters club.

For a man so vain, what an inglorious weekend.