Ah, the old tricks are always the best. Readers may recall during the Henley by-election campaign, the Tories issued an empty threat to sue the Lib Dems “unless the Lib Dems withdraw a leaflet and remove claims from their website by noon”. Of course, they didn’t do it but a gullible media ran with the story anyway.
Fast forward a couple of years, and it seems Labour’s Roberta Blackman-Woods is apeing the Tories’ tactics. Here’s what Politics.co.uk has to say:
Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has instructed solicitors to inform the Liberal Democrat candidate that she must apologise for making false allegations about the MP’s record on expenses. …
Roberta said, “The Liberal Democrats are spreading falsehoods about my record on expenses and while I believe in putting up with the rough and tumble of political debate, this kind of slander can not be allowed to perpetuate. They are saying that I was forced to make a repayment for over-claiming. This is not true and I have a letter from the House of Commons Department of Resources confirming that.”
Hmmm. So we can also assume that Dr Blackman-Woods has instructed solicitors to sue her local newspaper, The Northern Echo, too – after all their website reports her 2008/09 expenses claims as follows:
ROBERTA BLACKMAN-WOODS – £23,196.27
DURHAM CITY – LabourMonthly claims for £57.50 under the heading ‘furniture payment’. Her records include the purchase of a sofa bed for £1,095 and a sofa for £749, which appear to have been made on credit, with a payment listed of £57.50. She also repaid £1,330 that had been overpaid for mortgage interest.
The Lone Voice blog notes that this £1,330 re-payment was triggered by a letter from the Commons authorities – you can view a copy of it here.
Roberta Blackman-Woods’ Lib Dem opponent at the coming general election will be Carol Woods, who needs a swing of just 4% to win. You can help Carol by making a donation to her campaign here.
Dr Blackman-Woods scores a high 83% on LDV’s authoritarian ranking thanks to her support for ID cards and detention without trial, and her opposition to freedom of speech. Click here to share the news on Twitter; click here to share it via Facebook.
Let’s help Carol Woods and the Lib Dems win in Durham! Donate today. Let people know about Roberta Blackman-Woods’ voting record today.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Dundee - designing resilience into a fragile urban landscape
Potential job losses multiply from NHS England
Adam Harley selected for Strathkelvin and Bearsden
When Not the Nine O'Clock News demonstrated how to deal with chess prodigies
Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Programmes bring out the full capacity of a nation.
Gordon Lishman
Peter Davies
Katharine Pindar
David Raw
3 Comments
Hmmm – this wouldn’t be the same Labour party which is making false allegations elsewhere about Lib Dems and drugs, would it?
I’m a student at Durham University and am proud to support Carol Woods as Lib Dem PPC for the city. She’s a fantastic local candidate who works incredibly hard alongside her team getting the Lib Dem message out throughout the year. We see neither hide nor hair of Dr Blackman-Woods here.
Do we know why she was “absent” in the MPs expenses (FOI request) vote?
My friend, who was hoping to work in a government department, has volunteered in her office. She had my friend licking letters and door-knocking/delivering them which advertised Ms. Blackman-Woods. Needless to say, my friends work there was brief. I hate those impersonal letters which have my name plastered at the top but which contain complete drivel (we have recieved these for the entirety of her time in office), a terrible waste of money, send only in order to publise herself. Ms. Blackman-Woods’ misuse of the public purse is not something which should be ignored in the upcoming election.
In contrast I have much enjoyed reading Carol Woods leaflets, and she seems genuine and I hope to vote her in on May 6th. I wish her the very best of luck!