Dear Edna Caine
This is a human rights blog.
In the case of Ms. Whiteford and Mr. Davidson there is a principle which I uphold which is innocent until proven guilty.
That judgment must be made by an independent third party such as the Westminster authorities, if Ms. Whiteford is taking this further, or to another third party charged with dispensing justice, that would also be appropriate.
“I still think your article is unsupportive of Ms. Whiteford”.
If her allegation is true then she would have my support 100%.
However, given I have different versions either of which I cannot verify; it would go against what I believe in by rushing to judgment on such a serious issue.
She is in the same party as me but I will not disregard law and due process, it may be politically expedient if I wish to ingratiate myself with party bosses because I have put myself forward as a potential candidate for Glasgow City Council election, and jump on the bandwagon.
However, I am sure that Ms. Whiteford would have absolutely no respect for me if I declared Ian Davidson guilty without due process having taken place, just because I want to be a SNP Council Candidate.
Without due process society disintegrates to the will of mob, the very thing that I hope Ms. Whiteford fights against, at least I hope she does.
Imagine this as a scenario, you are taken to court, I am on the jury, would you expect me to find you guilty on the basis an allegation was made?
Or would you expect me to give you a fair trial?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Thank you for the response.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that we agree that the accusation of bullying can be dealt with by the Westminster authorities and that you accept that it does warrant consideration as a genuine complaint despite not being reported to the police. Your original article said - "If this is a genuine complaint, I would expect as a minimum a complaint to the Police"
It now appears from some accounts that the complaint was made to whoever deals with these sort of things at Westminster at the earliest opportunity. I am assuming that this is the recommended procedure for MPs when they wish to complain about the behaviour of colleagues. I am sure it will be investigated and "the jury" will of course not just make its decision based on the accusation alone. Mr Davidson has admitted that something was said that caused offence to Ms Whiteford and it is the authorities' job to determine what it was and whether it constituted appropriate behaviour by the chair of a Parliamentary Committee.
Ms Whiteford has my 100% support in her efforts to expose the bullying which she perceived. If she has made it all up, which seems unlikely, even bizarre, that support will be withdrawn.
I wish you success in your efforts to represent the people of Glasgow on the Council.