The Voice

Labour MP ‘unwise’ to alter news release

By | Sat 27th October 2007 - 6:17 pm

(Hat-tips to Jonathan Calder and Andy Mayer.)

As the BBC reports, Parliament’s standards watchdog has said an MP who inserted a quote from herself into an Electoral Commission press release had been “unwise”.

Sir Philip Mawer revealed in his annual report the unnamed MP then e-mailed the doctored press release on to the media as if it were an official release.

The MP in question is Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury. The case arose after she inserted a quote into an Electoral Commission press release; the Commission was urging voters to register to vote. Emily Thornberry added a quote about Islington, confusing the borough’s registration form response rate of 65% with its voter registration level of 90%. The implication was that Islington was not bothering to register voters.

As the Select Commitee heard last year, “the Electoral Commission does not think it acceptable that Ms Thornberry changed its press release without its permission. It believes that the quote inserted by Ms Thornberry was both politically contentious and misleading.”

The Commissioner concluded: “Ms Thornberry’s actions in adding a quotation in her own name to an Electoral Commission press release without the Commission’s permission and then distributing the release to the media in a form which could suggest it was still a Commission document were unwise and unfortunate. They are not to be condoned.”

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One Comment

  • Dominic 28th Oct '07 - 4:04pm

    And Thornberry’s majority over Lib Dem Bridget Fox is just 484 votes …

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