Politics is not Love or War

The Election Court has been upheld in its decision that  barred Mr Woolas,  formerly MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, from the Commons for three years and declared the election in May void, after finding that he used “illegal practices” to win the seat.  

 

In the High Court Lord Justice Thomas said: “The statements made were not of a trivial nature; they were a serious personal attack on a candidate by saying he condoned violence by extremists and refused to condemn those who advocated violence.” Campaign statements amounted to attacks on the “personal character or conduct” of  his Liberal Democrat opponent, in breach of the Representation of the People Act.  Unfortunately those 'illegal practices' were not put in place or operated by Mr Woolas alone.

We can assume that a party has issued clear advice to its candidates on how an electoral campaign is to be conducted - and how it is not.  Were the Labour activists in Oldham east and Saddleworth who wrote and distributed this illegal material, and who engaged in its conception, ill-disciplined or ignorant?  In either case it is not just Mr Woolas who stands condemned.  Worryingly the behaviour of some members of the Labour party both in the PLP and the constituency party, and even the party at large, seem to believe that the rule of law should not apply to them.