THE amount of vitriol spilled in Gillingham by its Liberal Democrat councillors (past and present) has taken on tsunami proprtions.

As a West Countryman I might have substituted the word bore - a tidal wave that sweeps up some rivers against the natural flow. But it would have been misunderstood.

There is nothing boring about the vehemence and the anger which has been let loose in the row about their former deputy leader and parliamentary candidate, Andy Stamp.

It has hit personal levels such as I have never known in the 20 years I have worked in Gillingham's political arena.

Stamp is a sensitive man with a strong sense of moral right.

He reported his two ward colleagues to the Standards Board after one of them - Cathy Sutton - was forced to leave her home and sought help.

They are still under investigation by the council's standards committee.

Since he resigned from the group and later the party, and stands as an Independent, Cllr Stamp has raised the stakes by going public on his complaints.

The party has now sprung to his defence, accusing him of a poor result in the general election (it was their best result since Bob Sayer stood in 1997).

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The campaign to win city status for Medway has taken to the streets (literally) with the appearance of Arriva's dark blue and white doubledecker.

It has been poiunding the roads between Chatham, Rochester and Strood since it entered service.

What a pity it hasn't been on the 132 route. It serves Gillingham and Rainham, two of the towns which seem to have been overlooked in much of the regeneration benefits.

They also accused him of sulking because he didn't get the group leadership (he didn't, but by then the rank and file were already taking sides).

It is an election year. In 91 days we shall all be waiting to hear who has won what.

I strongly suspect the electorate will respond to the row in a way that will do nothing to benefit the LibDems - just as the electorate appears to want to blame that party for all the woes of the financial mess.

There are two schools of thought about what has happened to the business secretary Vince Cable.

One view is that he has been humiliated and humbled and was foolish to be so outspoken - albeit in comments he thought would never enter the public domain. He's been stripped of certain responsibilities and is a lesser figure than he was.

Politicians cherish and guard their power more than anything and he has been stripped of much of his. So, he's a diminished politician and a busted flush. As the BBC's Nick Robinson put it, he pushed the nuclear button but only managed to blow himself up.

The other theory goes that in articulating his views about the Murdoch deal and other matters, he has strengthened his position - at least for the Liberal Democrats - as the party's and coalition's conscience.

That may be the case but the net result of his entrapment is that he has been left with no clout over the issue he appeared most concerned about. And for a politician, that's not a good outcome.

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Did The Telegraph cross the line in recording MPs? I'm not sure - some are questioning whether there was a genuine public interest case in doing so and whether the tactic exposed genuine wrong-doing or misconduct and not just indiscrete comments about policy differences.

I do know that it is likely to make politicians even more wary of talking to people and being candid about their views. One Kent MP told me today that he would now be extra-cautious when constituents came to see him and that the climate in which any comment or off-the-cuff remark could be turned into a headline made it all the more difficult to do talk freely.

Which is not necessarily beneficial for politics.  

There have been some harsh lessons for Cllr Nick Brice to learn.

One would appear to be that if you resort to prostitutes, don't get caught.

Another is that if you are going to get away with it, don't object to those who consider your behaviour is beyond the norm.

Cllr Brice was once a member of the Children's Committee. He (along with the other 54 councillors) therefore has a duty to protect and care for children - some of whom prostitute themselves.

A year ago he was caught by the police with a prostitute in his car. He accepted a police caution, paid £200 to attend a police-run kerb-crawlers convention in Medway, the council and his employers (the hooker hopped into his company car) were told, he lost his job months before he was to retire, he was reported to the Standards Committee and - after half a century's membership - he was thrown out of the Conservative Party.

This week he told the committee he had done his homework very carefully (a trait for which he was noted as audit committee chairman).

He had done wrong, but he had not got a conviction, and therefore whatever anyone thought, he couldn't be disciplined by the Standards committee.

With regret, they said, they agreed.

But in a cleverly worded statement the committee - two independent members and (by rote) a Labour councillor - damned him.

In 164 words they regretted failing to find he breached the code of conduct.

His behaviour was - and I paraphrase what they said - totally unacceptable. He should resign from the council having brought himself and it into disrepute. He acted improperly and without integrity, breached the principles of public life, lacked judgement, and should be banned from representing the council or sitting on any committee for whatever reason.

"We think the law should be altered to cover actions such as this when carried out by a councillor in any capacity," said Tony Dance, the independent chairman.

"We will be writing to the Secretary of State to bring this to his attention."

I fail to understand how that equates with Cllr Brice's comments after the meeting that the committee had vindicated him.