Conservative MPs offer support for Nigel Wright

Another Conservative MP has joined the growing chorus of supportfor Nigel Wright, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes an increasingly hard line against his former chief of staff.

Speaking on CBC News Networks Power & Politics, Alberta Conservative MP James Rajotte called Wright a friend and characterized the former Bay Street businessman as an exemplary character.

Every time I dealt with Nigel as a member of Parliament, as chief of staff to the prime ministerhe did an exceptional job in terms of dealing with me, especially on policy issues, Rajotte told host Evan Solomon. Thats not contradictory, in my sense, of Jason [Kenney] saying hes an exemplary character, an exemplary person high intelligence. I think even people across the aisle recognize that.

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Minister of Employment and Social DevelopmentJason Kenney told the Calgary Herald he considered Wright to be an extraordinarily capable man with high ethical principles.

I know Nigel Wright to be a person of good faith, of competence, with high ethical standards. And as far as I can tell, this was an uncharacteristic lapse of judgment on his part, both the decision to write a cheque and apparently the way it was handled thereafter, he told the newspaper.

The defence comes afterHarper lashed out at Wright this week.

Onour side, there is one person responsible for thisdeception. That person is Mr.Wright, he said in the House of Commons.

Harper initially said he accepted Wrights resignation with regret after his decision to cut a personal cheque for $90,000 to cover Senator Mike Duffys inappropriate expenses. But more recently he said that Wright was dismissed because of his actions.

Rajotte said that he supports Wrights integrity, but regrets hisaction on the Duffy file.

I would stand before you today and say Nigel was a friend of mine, and I do hold him in high regard, but obviously I can say to him as a friend that in that instance I wish he would have done something entirely different, he told Power & Politics.