Our Vice President

1 HE is being investigated by federal prosecutors about the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, the wife of a vocal critic of the US government in the build-up to the war in Iraq.

2 HE has twice been arrested for drink driving.

3 IN 1986 he opposed the release of Nelson Mandela (below) from jail in South Africa.

4 HE backed tax breaks for energy corporations and fought efforts to clean up hazardous waste.

5 HE made disastrous decisions as Defense Secretary under President George Bush Snr. He turned military duties over to private companies and put so-called intellectuals with no military experience into key posts in the Pentagon.

6 CHENEY'S stint as boss of energy company Halliburton led it from success to disaster in five years when he bought a subsidiary which saddled the firm with a multi-million pound asbestos lawsuit.

7 AS boss of Halliburton he struck lucrative deals with Saddam Hussein and Colonel Qaddafi.

8 DESPITE the fact that Cheney should have relinquished his links because of a conflict of interest he still gets £100,000 a year from Halliburton. And, surprise, surprise, the Bush-Cheney administration awarded Halliburton £5.5billion in contracts for work in Iraq.

9 AS vice president, Cheney has been THE decisive force pushing America into war.

10 HIS biggest failure as vice president was in 2002 when he visited nine Arab and Muslim countries six months after 9/11. He anticipated securing the countries' support to remove Saddam Hussein. But not one provided troops for the war. HORRORS OF WAR: Hawk Cheney pushed strongly for conflict in Iraq

11 NO president has returned to power after appointing him to a post in his administration. Ronald Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. And he is the only one canny enough not to have appointed Cheney to office. Under Richard Nixon he had a job in the executive branch, under Gerald Ford he was Chief of Staff and under George Bush snr he was Secretary of Defense. None were re-elected. Jimmy Carter defeated Ford, who had Cheney as his chief of staff, by 2 million votes. Ford later said that listening to Cheney's advice was "the biggest political mistake of my life".

12 HE managed to get five deferments from the Vietnam War. One of the more ingenious ways of qualifying was getting his wife pregnant. It was announced that childless married men no longer would be exempt from fighting for their country. So, nine months and two days later the first of his two daughters was born. Presidential candidate John Kerry famously served in Vietnam, yet Cheney constantly questions his war record.

13 HE was one of just 21 members of Congress to oppose the Safe Drinking Water Act

14 HIS electric bill for his 33-room Washington mansion is £120,000 this year alone. And he's trying to get the Navy to stump up for it, saying it's on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.

15 HE opposed extending the Civil Rights Act. This was designed to give black Americans the same rights as whites. Cheney also voted against holding Martin Luther King Day annually.

16 HE told Senator Patrick Leahy to "go f*** yourself" during a heated exchange on the Senate floor this year.

17 WHEN he was a student he dropped out of Yale University. He spent his time partying rather studying. He arrogantly believed he could bluff his way through.

18 HE voted to protect citizens' constitutional right - to own armour-piercing bullets.

19 HE was one of only four Congressmen to vote against banning plastic guns that are invisible to metal detectors.

20 HE used to smoke three packets of cigarettes a day. His favourite meal is steak and he has had four heart attacks and a pacemaker implanted.

So when it comes to questionable character just think about these issues.