So now we’re going to be sued!

Posted By: Robin Parker
Date Posted: 01/06/2007

It was bad enough being verbally abused and spat at on the streets. It was bad enough having disinformation in the Focuses (though we are used to that by now). And it was bad enough having our constituents intimidated. Now we are going to be sued (allegedly, according to the Middleton Guardian) for telling the truth.

I’ve been having another read of the Focuses. First specific Langley one that came out had this in it about Terry Linden, allegedly in the words of Terry Smith:
‘The Labour Candidate lives miles away somewhere north. He is obviously hoping that you will support his inactivity’

Inactivity! This is the man who was working his parts off as Chair of Governors of Furrow School in partnership with the Head Teacher to get us the best Ofsted in the Borough! And how active was Smith during this period? Well, not at all on Furrow Governors because he had been removed for non attendance. And he resigned from the Council hours before he would have been disqualified for six months non attendance there as well.

And what does ‘live miles away somewhere north’ indicate? Well, as one Labour voter told us, ‘I thought it meant he lived in Tyneside or somewhere’. I’ve actually been sad enough to put a measure on the A-Z and Terry Linden’s flat is just over half a mile from the ward boundary, in North Middleton ward. Isn’t this just a spin too far, intended to deceive the electorate?

Well I know Terry Smith didn’t write any of it, it was all down to Hennigan as usual, but he has slipped up on one thing. In the seventh, yes, seventh piece of literature that we were inflicted with, another Focus, he writes:
Labour claim that Terry was sacked from the Labour Party – SIMPLY UNTRUE.

Couldn’t agree more Dave, especially as we didn’t claim it. He was sacked as a candidate by the Labour Party, not from it, as we clearly said in our leaflets. He couldn’t even get enough members to put him on the short list. Had he done what many of us have done, gritted his teeth, got his head down and worked his way back, he would still be in the Labour Party now. It was his choice to cut and run to an opportunist Party and, of course, that results in automatic expulsion, along with the three who supported his campaign.

It appears that this is the basis of their decision to sue us, claiming his name had been ‘blackened’, according to the Guardian. Well Terry/Dave, there’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is you’re likely to have your day in court. The bad news? It’ll be you in the dock because the offence that we have already reported to the police, with witnesses, is far more serious than words in a leaflet.