Archive for phil woolas
Meet the Lib Dem bloggers: Nick Thornsby
Welcome to the latest in our series giving the human face behind some of the blogs you can find on the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator. Today it is Nick Thornsby who blogs at http://nickthornsby.wordpress.com. 1. What’s your formative political memory? The 2005 election was the one I was probably first properly aware of as a [...]
Mike Hancock wins courts case over paedophile allegation
Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has won his court case over an election leaflet that claimed he was a paedophile.
The final Phil Woolas judgement: its legal implications
Although the BBC got rather excitable in its coverage of Friday's legal defeat for ex-Labour MP Phil Woolas, talking about how the ruling, was set to have a major impact on how elections are run in the UK, the reality is rather more prosaic. The law which Woolas broke isn't new and nor has the case thrown up any significant precedent or previously overlooked aspects to it.
Three things to remember about the Phil Woolas case
1. The case has not set any significant legal precedent – there have been no important new definitions, clarifications or qualifications of the law relating to candidates making false statements. The law now is still the same as the law looked to be before this case started. 2. Unless an MP was elected in 2010 [...]
Why Iain Dale is wrong about libel
Iain Dale has posed the question why Elwyn Watkins, the Liberal Democrat candidate up against Phil Woolas, didn’t sue for libel instead of looking to have his election result over-turned: To my mind, the way these kind of disputes should be resolved is not to take them to ‘election courts’, but instead through the libel [...]
Posts of the week
The post I found most interesting to write: The Phil Woolas judgement: Arthur Balfour was right The election offence for which Phil Woolas’s election was overturned is, deliberately and rightly, drawn narrowly and precisely … The law has been in place for 115 years. That Phil Woolas is one of only a very small number [...]
No, this is not a spoof
Despite appearances to the contrary (the sad looking photo and the link to the full court judgement), this is in fact now ex-MP Phil Woolas’s genuine website: http://www.philwoolas.org.uk/ It looks like he didn’t receive his own memo though, going by the arguments made on the site.
Memo from Phil Woolas to Labour MPs
MEMO From: Phil Woolas To: Labour Party MPs Dear colleague, Thanks for speaking up about how outrageous it is for the courts to oust someone elected by the public with a surprise ruling that sets an awful legal precedent for what was a spur of the moment decision people made during the election. As the [...]
Michael Meacher faces legal action for repeating Phil Woolas’s claims
Labour MP Michael Meacher is facing the threat of legal action after he took to his blog at the weekend to repeat some of the allegations made by now disgraced Labour MP Phil Woolas despite the court ruling that they were false.
Judicial review application from Phil Woolas rejected by court
The courts have comprehensively rejected an attempt by Labour MP Phil Woolas to get a judicial review over the ruling that he broke the law in the May 2010 general election and is therefore barred from holding office: Phil Woolas loses request for judicial review over Oldham election case
