I don’t usually repeat what Ben Gummer writes, except if it’s about Bridge, but I thought that this was worth it, even if I disagree with the first sentence:
Speaking of rubbish, I was pleased to see the election court in Oldham and Saddleworth find Labour’s Phil Woolas guilty of lying. Not that he saw fit to apologize.
True, politicians are not famous for giving straight answers. But they should at least apologize when they are proved wrong. For instance, at the last election, thousands of leaflets were put out in Ipswich scaring some very vulnerable people about what a Conservative government would do. None of them had even a glancing relationship with the truth. One of the most effective was the “warning” that we would cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners. I know how this worried people, as I had to answer concerned pensioners across the town who brought the issue up on the doorstep.
Well, just as we promised at the time – repeatedly – the Allowance has stayed. Will Ipswich Labour apologize? I won’t hold my breath.
I’m certainly not putting the previous article up “Time we learned from Europe”. Harrumph. It was about leaning from Germany.
(There is a massive issue of political free speech in the Woolas judgement, and it was the wrong judgement. But politicians such as David Ellesmere and John Cook do need to stop lying so much.)
Related articles
- Oldham East & Saddleworth: It’s already on (libdemvoice.org)
- The JC and the Phil Woolas affair (thejc.com)
- Woolas loses seat as MP in ruling (mirror.co.uk)
- Phil Woolas: what the judges said (telegraph.co.uk)
- Woolas rival ‘risked everything’ (bbc.co.uk)
- Phil Woolas is Labour’s fall guy | Dan Hodges (guardian.co.uk)
- Phil Woolas to launch legal challenge next week (telegraph.co.uk)
- Court to rule on Woolas election (bbc.co.uk)
- “+++Breaking News Woolas election declared void – new election in Oldham East and Saddleworth” and related posts (carons-musings.blogspot.com)
- Phil Woolas: ‘Gone but not forgotten’ (bbc.co.uk)
- 7 in 10 voters back decision to unseat Phil Woolas (newstatesman.com)
- Labour ‘had to act’ over Woolas (bbc.co.uk)
- The Phil Woolas affair is about the soul of the Labour party | Sunny Hundal (guardian.co.uk)
- Phil Woolas guilty (sluggerotoole.com)
