David Lammy has ‘done a Lammy’. The Information Commissioner has fined him £5,000 for making nuisance calls during his mayoral campaign. Here is their statement:

Mr Lammy instigated 35,629 calls over two days, playing a recorded message that urged people to back his campaign to be named the Labour party candidate for London Mayor.

Calls that play a recorded message must only be made to people who have given the organisation their permission to receive this type of call.

The ICO investigation found Mr Lammy did not have such permission, and so had broken the rules set out in the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said:

“The rules apply to political groups canvassing for votes in the same way they apply to salespeople offering a discount on double glazing. If you want to call someone in this way, you must follow these rules. Mr Lammy did not, and that is why he has been fined.

Classic Lammy…

UPDATE: Chi Onwurah, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, twists the knife:

“I wrote to BT, their competitors and the Minister in October setting out an action plan for using technology to fight nuisance calls. It’s great that industry are listening, even if Ministers are not. This should go a long way to fighting what has become a daily menace for millions of people.”