(UPDATED 28-12-05 16.29) - keeping this post on the blog for a few weeks...
** Now think about this, here we have an MP who has been found guilty of libel after making false statements, being taken to court and then found guilty by the justice system and he still has the damn nerve to dis-honour the house of commons with his presense. ** Yes I know he's not the only convicted criminal to sit in the house, and mores the pity he wont be the last either. One can only imagine the outcry from the Labour side of the house were this a member of some other party that had been convicted of libel.
In days gone by a disgraced MP would resign (and done the decent thing with a service revolver and a bottle of whiskey...), and indeed if most people were found guilty of libel they would - if in a professional career where there word and honour was supposed to mean something- be forced to do the decent thing and resign their position forthwith. Yet Mr Flynn(I wont demean the title he has by refering to him as an MP) still insists on staying in the house.
Maybe this is a New Labour thing, as he called for Mr Blair to resign just after the May elections this year as did several MP's and yet we still have Mr Blair in No.10. So I must assume that its a case of do as I say and not as I do now that I have broken the laws of the land, but I am now calling for him to stand down with immediate effect and allow a person who has not had their reputation tarnished by being hauled through the courts to stand and properly represent the decent citizens of Newport.
I am sure that there will be people out there who would argue that libel is hardly the most serious of crimes, but I (and the law courts) take a differing view on that. His comments about that company could have lead to them going out of business and to the people in that company being tarred with Mr Flynns untrue comments for the rest of their lives.
One can hardly wonder when an MP acts that way, why the number of voters is declining and people feel that all politicians are on the make and cant be trusted, when people see that honesty and integrity have no place in the commons any more. It reflects very badly on the many decent and honest MP's who are in the house, who work long and hard for the people they represent.
I must add finally that I am all in favour of the rehabilitation of convicted criminals, but I feel that a job in the house of commons as an MP is not the ideal place for them.
Some links on this for further reading:
from icnetwork
from independent
from money.guardian
**I have forwarded this onto Mr Flynn and asked if he will be standing down, and be assured that the libel case will be getting a lot of publicity if he does not when the next election comes up. I have contacted him before via e-mail and have not as yet recieved a reply in any form from him, although I have not contacted him by normal mail as yet.
Anyone not happy with the fact that a man guilty of libel still sits in the mother of all parliments should contact him via the means below:
Contacts:
Tel: 01633 262348 / 020 7219 3478
Pager: 07644 007 555
E-Mail : paulflynnmp@talk21.com
Mobile: 07887 925 699
Web Site: www.paulflynnmp.co.uk
In the High Court today (8th November 2005) Paul Flynn MP for Newport West, through his solicitor, apologised unreservedly for the damage caused by allegations he made against Endowment Justice and its Directors.He also agreed to place an apology on the home page of his website and has agreed not to repeat again the same or similar allegations. He will pay damages of £1000, which Endowment Justice has donated to the NSPCC, and costs of £35,450. In February of this year Paul Flynn made certain statements about companies providing professional services in relation to endowment policy compensation claims. Despite having spoken to Endowment Justice he linked these libellous allegations to them. He then repeated the same allegations to a journalist from Money Marketing which published his statements in an article. Paul Flynn now accepts that these allegations concerning Endowment Justice are completely false. Marianne Fitzjohn, Director of Endowment Justice commented: "This whole case has been extremely stressful for all of us at Endowment Justice. We set up Endowment Justice to be a champion for people who were getting short shrift from the financial institutions when they have legitimate claims for endowment mis-selling."We believe that we have been in the vanguard in trying to ensure that financial institutions behave properly and stop misleading their own clients. We have been in regular contact with the FSA and the FOS concerning the behaviour of both the larger financial institutions and the IFAs who inappropriately sold these endowment policies."We have also repeatedly called for the endowment claims companies to be regulated as we recognise that there are examples of bad practice. Endowment claimants should be very discriminating in choosing a company, which can help them in making their claim."We repeatedly asked Paul Flynn to apologise and withdraw his comments. Even when we went to law he still simply refused to respond. We reluctantly brought this action to vindicate our reputation, because our reputation and integrity are of paramount important to us and integral to how we run our business."We are delighted that the whole matter is now over and are very pleased that it was a term of the settlement that a contribution would be made to charity. The damages will be paid to the NSPCC."
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