News

News feeds |

Man who blew the whistle

The Labour Party was alerted to concerns over the use of telephone canvassing in elections months before Fiona Jones began her Newark campaign.

Mr Peter Harris (right) said that he warned Labour he would be monitoring their campaign closely after he suspected telephone canvassing was used in a dummy run at a district council by-election six months before the General Election.

He also raised his concerns with district returning officer Mr Richard Dix.

But Mr Harris said he took no took further action because Labour lost the Newark Castle ward seat.

Mr Harris was the Liberal Democrat candidate in Newark at the General Election and he called in police to investigate Labour's election expenses for the campaign.

The investigation led to the trial and conviction of Mrs Jones for election expenses fraud and her disqualification as an MP.

Mr Harris of Hillside Drive, Southwell, will not stand in the resulting by-election - a decision he said he took some time ago because of his work commitments.

Mr Harris told the Advertiser after the trial: "There was a lot more going on and things were much muckier than even I had anticipated."

Mr Harris first raised his concerns about Labour's financial running of the campaign with the Advertiser in June 1997, just one month after the election.

Labour had claimed its Newark campaign cost £8,514.94 to run.

Election expenses in the constituency were limited to £8,910.70, so its spending came within £395.76 of that.

Mr Harris found it hard to believe Labour's claim that it cost only £350 to run their office in Paxton's Court, Newark. That worked out at £60 a week for a six-week campaign. The Labour Party dismissed his claim at the time as sour grapes.

But ultimately it proved a crucial part of their election returns as it was a major factor in the Mr Harris's decision to call in the police to investigate.

Mrs Jones later criticised members of Newark Labour Party in her election report for not working hard enough in the campaign.

A crucial line in that report conceded: "Constant requests were made for people to volunteer and to telephone canvass.

"Retford, Southwell and Balderton all managed to telephone canvass their branch area. Newark did not."

This report compounded Mr Harris's concerns and Fraud Squad officers from Nottinghamshire Police visited Kelham Hall at the end of November 1997 to look into the election expenses.

Labour were confident the accounts were in order. Mrs Jones said at the time: "I am satisfied there is absolutely no problem with them."

She was backed by a Labour Party spokesman who declared: "We are confident that they are a genuine reflection of our successful campaign to win Newark."

What the Labour Party did not say at the time was that Mr Harris had already warned them about his concerns over a previous telephone canvassing campaign.

This was in a Newark and Sherwood District Council by-election in the Newark Castle ward in November 1996.

The Labour candidate was Mr Andy Stanton, who has since resigned from the Labour Party after he became concerned about the way regional Labour officials were operating.

Mr Harris said that Liberal Democrat supporters had contacted the party after receiving telephone canvassing calls - some more than once - during the district campaign.

He believed Labour used the election as a dummy run for the General Election campaign to follow.

But he said: "I decided not to take it any further then because Labour did not win the district seat, but I clearly told Labour party officials, I will be watching you in the future.

"Labour chose to turn a blind eye and has finally been caught out.

"The bile and the vitriol poured in my direction was because of the substance in what was being said earlier on rather than a lack of evidence.

"There was clearly a lot more going on than even I had anticipated. The Colin MacLeod connection appears to be still very murky."

The court heard that Mr MacLeod had given donations to the Newark campaign and Mr Harris said that had clearly surprised some Labour supporters because of his previously strong Conservative connections.

Also that the Labour election accounts were never produced.

Labour has appointed the MP for Houghton and Washington East, and former Midlands regional officer, Mr Fraser Kemp, to take charge of co-ordinating events in Newark to link national and regional levels of Labour with local members.

Mr Harris said Mr Kemp had already added his own surprising twist to this particular tale.

Mr Harris said: "He actually claimed in a Radio Four interview on Monday that it was Labour who called in the police.

"That was a very interesting twist I've never heard before and almost the ultimate attempt at spin doctoring."

 

Biding his time to reclaim seat

The man who lost his seat to Fiona Jones at the 1997 General Election wants to be given the chance to reclaim it.

Mr Richard Alexander (64, left) of London Road, Newark, held the seat for 18 years, winning it for the Conservatives in 1979 from Labour stalwart the late Ted Bishop.

There have been some suggestions that the Conservative Party would opt for a heavyweight candidate but Mr Alexander feels he is the best person for the job.

He said he accepted age was a factor when choosing a candidate but said that a quarter of the electors were over 60 and he had the advantage of understanding many of the problems they faced.

He said that as a local candidate he would have a headstart over someone who did not know the constituency.

"I know every stick and stone of the place," he said.

"I like to think I have a reputation for hard work with a streak of independence and hope I will be selected and elected."

When he lost the seat he decided not to return to his profession as a solicitor but instead has filled the time by going on two computer courses to gain a skill which had previously passed him by.

"I am now relaxed and more mentally and physically fit than ever before," he said.

"I have had more chance to play golf and become involved in organisations like Newark Rotary Club. I have filled my time very usefully."

But he admitted he had missed being in the centre of things and having the chance to challenge either his own party or the Government party. He has maintained his interest in politics, has been active in the party nationally and last year applied to go on the candidates' list.

Said Mr Alexander: "I have been waiting in the wings. I suppose I have been waiting for this opportunity."

He feels the Conservatives have a very good chance of winning the seat provided that they manage to get their supporters out, which he felt had been a big problem last time.

The party needs a 2.9% swing to overturn Labour's 3,000 majority.

Mr Alexander said his chances of keeping the seat could have been harmed by Labour's decision to employ people to telephone canvass voters in 1997.

But he said: "I am not bitter about it. I have been in public service all my adult life and I accept the ups and downs."

However, he feels that a fraud was committed on the electors of Newark.

He said: "They have had an MP imposed on them as a result of what has proved to be electoral malpractice.

"A fraud has been committed also on the decent Labour activists in the constituency who worked hard for their candidate."

It was a fraud, he said, on him, too, as he had abided by the rules.

The Chairman of Newark and Retford Conservative Association, Mr Philip Ingall, said Jones and her agent Des Whicher had cheated on three counts.

"By their high and unfair spending they cheated on the electorate, they cheated on their opponents and they cheated their own party."

Mr Ingall said they would start to draw up their list of prospective parliamentary candidates this week.

It will come down to a shortlist of three and will then be up to the association members to decide. Each member had one vote.

Conservative Party Chairman Mr Michael Ancram, said they were looking forward to the by-election and would be fighting hard to win.

"This by-election is the result of the fact that Labour have once again been caught breaking the rules. They seem to believe there is one rule for them and one rule for everyone else."

 

Sherwood MP steps in to aid town voters

Sherwood MP Mr Paddy Tipping is set to play a key role in the Newark by-election that will be New Labour's first real public popularity test since the 1997 General Election.

Fiona Jones was unseated on Friday after being convicted of knowingly falsifying election expenses.

During the trial it was suggested that Mr Colin MacLeod and Caledonian Mining had donated £3,000 to Mr Tipping's Sherwood General Election campaign in 1997.

Mr Tipping has told the Advertiser that was not true. He said that Mr MacLeod had made a £10,000 donation to the East Midlands Labour Party but neither he nor the Sherwood constituency drew any of that towards the campaign.

Mrs Jones has said she is to appeal against her conviction and if successful could claim she should be considered again as a candidate.

Mr Tipping said that would be a matter for Labour's ruling national executive.

He said Mrs Jones had been a good colleague and they had worked well together on issues.

But he added that as Mrs Jones had had a tough time and a bad national Press there would be a compelling logic to give Labour a new start in Newark.

The seat was declared vacant in the House of Commons on Monday and Labour's national executive moved quickly on Tuesday to suspend Newark Constituency Labour Party.

This opens the way for the forthcoming by-election to be run centrally.

Mr Fraser Kemp has been drafted in to co-ordinate the campaign.

He will be assisted by Mr Tipping and a campaign team.

Mr Tipping said he would also take on constituency matters while Newark does not have an MP.

Mr Tipping (48) was appointed in December as Parliamentary Secretary in the Privy Council office.

He served on Nottinghamshire County Council and was a finance committee chairman before his step up to Parliament.

 

Election notebook

The British Pig Industry Support Group will field their own candidate for the Newark by-election.

The Advertiser has been assured that the as yet un-named pigman will come from the Newark area.

A fund has been set up to fight the seat into which pigmen from all over the country have contributed.

In a statement the group said their ideal candidate to fight the Newark seat would be someone who could present rural Britain's case not just to the people of Nottinghamshire but also to the urban majority.

The Advertiser was e-mailed on Tuesday by a former Green Party candidate wondering whether he should stand in the Newark by-election.

Mr Stephen Games stood for the Greens in the Hampstead constituency in the 1992 General Election when he polled 594 votes.

He said friends in London were suggesting he should now stand in Newark. "I'm taking soundings," he said.

Mr Games is obviously keen to find out what he can about Newark as he sent the same e-mail to three different members of the Advertiser editorial team.

The Democratic Party declared on Monday it will field a candidate in the Newark by-election.

The party will stand on a anti-European and anti-Euro ticket but emphasises that it will not just be campaigning on a single issue like the former Referendum Party.

Party leader Mr Geoff Southall said they were currently interviewing candidates.

Lord Nunburnholme, formerly known as Mr Charlie Wilson of Sutton-on-Trent, speaks for the Democratic Party from the cross-benches in the House of Lords.

The Conservatives have pledged to send a Front Bench speaker to Newark every day during the by-election camapign.

 

Click here to go back a page