Scottish Labour councillor David Fagan who sits on several key committees including social work is arrested over child pornography offences, Thursday 6 October he is to appear in court, the Labour Party did the right thing to suspend him for the sake of party, elected politicians need by their position to maintain the highest possible professional standards to retain public confidence

Dear All

It never rains but it pours for some people; and in the Scottish Labour Party, things could be described as a bit tough at present.

If there was a list of things you pray to God you wouldn’t want to happen, a Scottish Labour councillor arrested over child pornography offences is right up there among the list of things so toxic, it is on a par of going nuclear.

David Fagan, a Scottish Labour councillor in North Lanarkshire has been charged by Police Scotland with alleged child pornography offences, he is scheduled to appear in court later this week and has been rightly suspended from the party.

Just recently, the news leaked out that there was ‘doom and gloom’ kicking about the place as Labour bosses were concerned that North Lanarkshire along with Glasgow could fall to SNP control.

When things like child pornography offences are told to the public, they get angry; they don’t want to hear excuses, if you think back to my blog post on leadership just recently, one of the things I flagged up was people who in the party were charting their own course.

Their interests aren’t in line with the interests of the party or the people.

If you had looked at David Fagan’s bio, you might have been impressed, work for ex-Labour MSP Karen Whitefield, formerly vice chair of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, sat on several key bodies on the council. He is also listed as a member of the council committees of Education, Policy and Resources and Housing and Social Work Services. He was also a part-time post of advisor to the Director of the School of Work Based Education at Glasgow Caledonian University and a member of the GMB. Fagan is also by election the councillor for Airdrie South.

A Police Scotland spokesman said:

"A 52 year-old man was arrested on Wednesday 7 September 2016.  He was released on an undertaking to appear at Airdrie Sheriff Court on Thursday 6 October 2016."

A spokesman for the Crown Office said:

“The Procurator Fiscal has received a report concerning a 52 year old male in connection with alleged incidents said to have occurred between 25 and 30 June 2016. The report remains under consideration.”

What we know already that is that so far they are going to court on Thursday 6 October which means they possibly believe there is a case to answer.

Sometimes, it is interesting what people say or in this case don’t say; and a Scottish Labour spokesman; has since confirmed Fagan had been suspended from the party.

A council spokesman said:

“This is a matter for the courts.”

When you go online, you leave a trail for most people it isn’t damaging as they surf the web and comment and view websites, but you do leave a trail.

Party bosses as I understand it want to get the party up and running after it was effectively shut down due to the recent damaging leadership contest, and then this comes along and has to be dealt with.

The career of David Fagan in local government has certainly been damaged beyond repair, if he ends up convicted, the Labour Party would possibly face a rather difficult by-election against other parties particularly the SNP who are seen as their main rivals to win control of North Lanarkshire in 2017.

In public office, you are expected to have the highest standards because of the position you are elected to, if you can’t abide by the professional standards set, you have no business in government at any level, basically tow the party line and don't put yourself in the spotlight by acting stupid.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University