Yesterday Guido revealed Laura Pidcock was fined £3,835.32 for cheating in her re-election attempt. Today Guido can reveal three other Members of Parliament have been fined by the Standards Commissioner after using Parliamentary resources for party political campaigning.
- George Freeman: £759.03 for 1,147 campaign letters sent with prepaid House of Commons second class envelopes.
- Zac Goldsmith: £8,954.33 for 13,179 campaign letters sent with prepaid House of Commons second class envelopes.
- Daniel Zeichner: £343.96 for (claimed) 500 campaign letters sent with prepaid House of Commons second class envelopes.
All three politicians had, like Pidcock, sent constituents campaign letters using Parliamentary stationery and tax-funded second class stamps. After constituents complained the Standards Commissioner investigated the breaches and handed out fines, all of which have now been paid. Nothing more than a slap on the wrist…
When Zac Goldsmith first drew attention to the coordinated campaign of death threats being sent to Leavers this week, most responded with horror. Not everyone, though. If you look at the replies to the original tweet, hundreds and hundreds of nutty Remain supporters claimed Zac had fabricated the letter himself. Disturbingly, the worst offenders were three prominent journalists. The @hrtbps account, an anonymous lefty columnist with 66,000 followers, wrote a perverse article for the men’s website Joe.co.uk implying Goldsmith was responsible. He was joined by New European writer Mike Hind, who mocked the death threat and claimed there is “no evidence” it wasn’t a set up by Zac. Byline’s Peter Jukes suggested the death threat was “coordinated” by Steve Bannon. This morning Guido revealed that at least six Leave donors have been sent the chilling letters and the police are investigating. Don’t hold your breath for these embarrassed Remain cranks to apologise…
The BBC has sacked a radio presenter who told Tory MP Zac Goldsmith that a death threat sent to an 80 year-old Brexit-supporting constituent “should have been addressed to you”.
St.John Stephen, who had a fortnightly gardening slot on BBC Radio London, claimed he thought the letter telling Zac’s elderly constituent “We are going to kill you” was “some sort of set up”. A BBC spokesman tells Guido “This was clearly unacceptable” and Stephen will not be appearing on the Beeb again. What was he thinking?
Real anger in the Commons during the statement on John Worboys this afternoon. Zac Goldsmith told the new Justice Secretary that “until the Parole Board publicly explains the rationale behind the decision it took, people can’t possibly have confidence in our criminal justice system”. David Gauke replied that he will look at changing the rules to allow this to happen retrospectively for the Worboys case. It’s crucial that the Ministry of Justice get a move on here. The Parole Board must surely explain how they came to this decision before Worboys is released, otherwise how can the public possibly be safe?
This is what Zac Goldsmith received in the post this morning. It ain’t just Remain MPs receiving abuse…
The cruellest of timing – deposed LibDem Sarah Olney has revealed she received her P45 in the post in the same delivery as a thank-you leaflet from Zac Goldsmith. At least she can laugh about it…
