Dear All
Every so often something historic happens.
And the 'where were you' phrase comes to mind.
Former Labour MP Phil Woolas has lost his bid to overturn an election court's ruling that stripped him of his Commons seat and barred him from politics, that's historic.
In cricket terms, ‘he’s out’.
On his ear on his arse bouncing along the pavement but definitely out!
Woolas narrowly won his Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the May General Election by lying about his Lib Dem opponent.
It has since been declared void by an election court.
After getting caught he decided to try and seek a judicial review, but three High Court judges threw his case out on its ear and upheld the ruling.
Oldham East and Saddleworth doesn’t currently have an MP because Commons Speaker John Bercow played it safe and sat on the fence pending the outcome of the court case.
By convention the Labour Party would move the writ for a by-election but considering they kicked Woolas out, the writ should be moved by the Commons.
Mr Woolas said:
"It is obviously a very serious concern that my voters who have elected me four times have not been given the right to judge this matter for themselves as I am barred from standing for Parliament for three years. I was very grateful for the judge in this hearing who pointed out that there is no mechanism for appealing against the finding of facts and, as I have said in the past, I strongly contest the interpretation that has been given to them. It is now unclear what is political and what is personal and that is not good for a strong democracy."
Let me help you out, spreading lies which you know to be untrue isn’t democracy and trying to parcel this up as free speech or election banter is plain nonsense.
Woolas added:
"That is the end, I am out - which I think is unfair and, more importantly, my 70,000 voters will think it is unfair."
70,000 people in Oldham and Saddleworth can’t read and are devoid of fairness?
Woolas is guilty; it was in print for goodness sake by his own hand.
Lib Dem rival Elwyn Watkins subject of the smears said:
"This is not against Phil Woolas, it is about cleaning up politics."
Adding that he looked forward to a "fair and clean by-election"!
Given the student protests about tuition fees, expect a rough ride.
Phil Woolas's case is the first time an MP has been found guilty of making false statements of fact in an election petition since 1911.
And he deserves to have his result declared void and have a three year ban imposed.
In politics, it is acceptable to put your slant on events or policies but not lie about other candidates. Everyone regardless of party deserves to be treated with respect by other candidates.
That should be commonsense.
A lesson a fearful Phil Woolas should be learning to his cost, if he played it straight he might have won; now he has lost everything including his self respect and public trust, so far he is still in denial.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Every so often something historic happens.
And the 'where were you' phrase comes to mind.
Former Labour MP Phil Woolas has lost his bid to overturn an election court's ruling that stripped him of his Commons seat and barred him from politics, that's historic.
In cricket terms, ‘he’s out’.
On his ear on his arse bouncing along the pavement but definitely out!
Woolas narrowly won his Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the May General Election by lying about his Lib Dem opponent.
It has since been declared void by an election court.
After getting caught he decided to try and seek a judicial review, but three High Court judges threw his case out on its ear and upheld the ruling.
Oldham East and Saddleworth doesn’t currently have an MP because Commons Speaker John Bercow played it safe and sat on the fence pending the outcome of the court case.
By convention the Labour Party would move the writ for a by-election but considering they kicked Woolas out, the writ should be moved by the Commons.
Mr Woolas said:
"It is obviously a very serious concern that my voters who have elected me four times have not been given the right to judge this matter for themselves as I am barred from standing for Parliament for three years. I was very grateful for the judge in this hearing who pointed out that there is no mechanism for appealing against the finding of facts and, as I have said in the past, I strongly contest the interpretation that has been given to them. It is now unclear what is political and what is personal and that is not good for a strong democracy."
Let me help you out, spreading lies which you know to be untrue isn’t democracy and trying to parcel this up as free speech or election banter is plain nonsense.
Woolas added:
"That is the end, I am out - which I think is unfair and, more importantly, my 70,000 voters will think it is unfair."
70,000 people in Oldham and Saddleworth can’t read and are devoid of fairness?
Woolas is guilty; it was in print for goodness sake by his own hand.
Lib Dem rival Elwyn Watkins subject of the smears said:
"This is not against Phil Woolas, it is about cleaning up politics."
Adding that he looked forward to a "fair and clean by-election"!
Given the student protests about tuition fees, expect a rough ride.
Phil Woolas's case is the first time an MP has been found guilty of making false statements of fact in an election petition since 1911.
And he deserves to have his result declared void and have a three year ban imposed.
In politics, it is acceptable to put your slant on events or policies but not lie about other candidates. Everyone regardless of party deserves to be treated with respect by other candidates.
That should be commonsense.
A lesson a fearful Phil Woolas should be learning to his cost, if he played it straight he might have won; now he has lost everything including his self respect and public trust, so far he is still in denial.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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