‘Moral’ Woolas defends election campaign
By politics.co.uk staff
Labour MP Phil Woolas robustly defended himself against claims of “peddling falsehoods” on the second day of an unusual election court hearing in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
His Liberal Democrat challenger Elwyn Watkins, who lost the seat by 103 votes but has now launched a legal challenge accusing Mr Woolas of misrepresentation, was accused of being in a “pact with the devil” because of his alleged close links with Muslim extremists.
Mr Woolas, who gave evidence all day on Tuesday, told the two high court judges presiding over the case he had stepped in to veto the most extreme material proposed by his campaign staff.
His “s*** or bust” campaign did not extend to a proposed leaflet suggesting Asian voters were voting together. “I took that decision not just on political grounds but on moral grounds,” the Financial Times newspaper quoted Mr Woolas as saying.
The former immigration minister, defending a leaflet showing him as a target in the crosshairs of a gun, said he had received death threats because of his role at the Home Office, but could only name two specific examples.
Another piece of literature which Mr Watkins’ team suggested provided a misleading interpretation of a Newsnight broadcast was described by Mr Woolas as having “sailed very close to the wind”.
The case, the first of its kind since 1911, is being held under the Representation of the People Act. Mr Watkins accuses Mr Woolas of misrepresentation over his campaign funding, reneging on a promise to live in the constituency and wooing the extremist vote.
The case, which is expected to last until the end of the week, continues.
