Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Staff paid for by taxpayers campaigned for Labour in the Leicester South by-election

Or so Andrew Gilligan claimed in the Daily Telegraph earlier this week:
A London council leader used staff paid by the taxpayer to campaign for the Labour Party in a recent parliamentary by–election.

Lutfur Rahman, the controversial directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, took a coachload of people, including a number working for the council, to canvass for Labour at the Leicester South by–election. The visit took place during working hours on a weekday. Asked by The Daily Telegraph, the council refused repeatedly to deny that the staff were on duty at the time.
Gilligan goes on to explain that Rahman was elected as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party for his alleged links to an extremist Muslim group. His visit to Leicester to support Labour’s candidate, Jon Ashworth, was part of aso far unsuccessful attempt to win readmission to the party.

In other news, the shop (pictured above) used as the Lib Dem HQ in the by-election looks set to become a florist.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

'A spokesman for the council said the staff present were “not necessarily” working at the time of the event because they might have been part–time or rostered to work outside normal hours. He insisted that “no staff due to be working on that day were absent from their ordinary duties”.'

Shall I just repeat that last bit?

'He insisted that “no staff due to be working on that day were absent from their ordinary duties”.'

Muckraking by the tories, which libdems seem perfectly happy to go along with.

Jonathan Calder said...

So it's Anonymous accusing me of supporting Tory muckraking and florist spam.

Not the debate I was hoping for.