'Nun' Convicted of Sending Hoax Anthrax to Local MP

A 'Roman Catholic nun' has been convicted of sending hoax anthrax packages to senior politicians including Edward Leigh, Member of Parliament for the Gainsborough Constituency, and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Sister Ruth Augustus, was convicted of sending hoax anthrax packages to senior politicians yesterday. Sister Ruth posted six envelopes containing white powder to the high profile figures. Targets included were former Attorney General Baroness Scotland and human rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy.

An envelope intercepted at a mail screening centre was addressed to Mr. Clegg and on the envelope was written 'devil worshipping', 'freemason', 'sex with 30 plus women' and 'your poor Catholic wife and children'. Another was to Baroness Scotland, and had a swastika on it and two crosses, and 'stop this evil devil worshipping'. One to Baroness Kennedy said 'stop these evil devil worshipping freemasons'.


An analysis of the contents of the packages revealed the substance to be non-hazardous.

According to The Independent Harrow Crown Court heard that when Sr. Augustus, of Stratford, east London, who denied the charges, was arrested she told police:

"I look like a terrorist, don't I, working for a charity all over the world, with orphans?"

A jury took less than two-and-a-half hours to find her guilty by a majority verdict of 11 to one on all counts following a three-day trial.

Mr. Justice Saunders deferred the case until September for a hearing at the Old Bailey while a medical report is prepared on Sr. Augustus' mental health.  She was released on bail on condition that she does not make contact any MP or senior Government official.


Following her conviction, Augustus turned to the public gallery as she left the courtroom and said she would be appealing against the verdict.

Are Local Liberal Democrats Suffering From Schizophrenia?

It was not all that long ago that Cllr. Ray Sellars, Liberal Democrat (Nettleham & Saxilby Division) was taking credit for saving Linelands from closure. 'Threat to home lifted by people who really care' read the headline in a Lib Dem leaflet.

"Thanks go not just to the Lib Dem Group but also to the many dedicated people who protested loudly at the threatened closure of an excellent care facility with dedicated staff and volunteers."

No one can dispute that those who work at Linelands are some very dedicated individuals, but suggesting that the Lib Dems can take credit was ridiculous. Even as the leaflet landed on doormats in Nettleham, the Council had been clear that the reprieve was only temporary until suitable alternative provision was available.

The leaflet continued:

"Liberal Democrats are concerned, not only about Government cut-backs, but also charges on our national debt...giving us a bleak financial outlook." 

This would presumably be the same Government that has five Liberal Democrats within the Cabinet, including the Chief Secretary to the Treasury?  The article by Cllr. Sellars concludes:

"...remember that Lib Dem common sense brough vital balance to the spending review: Personal tax allowance is up by £1,000 while banks must pay a new levy."

So the Liberal Democrats are in government after all.

 'West Lindsey Focus' delivered
prior to the 2010 General Election

Let us not forget that it was of course Cllr. Reg Shore, Liberal Democrat (Stow Ward), the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on West Lindsey District Council, who surprised many, shortly before local elections last year, with comments made to the Lincolnshire Echo. Cllr. Shore was quoted as saying:

"I don't agree with Nick. I never have and that's based on the issue of student fees."

The disclosure that Cllr. Shore does not and has not ever supported Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Leader is somewhat at odds with the facts. Cllr. Shore having appeared in election literature IN 2010 with Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for the Gainsborough Constituency, Cllr. Pat O'Conner, and the Deputy Prime Minister. 

But the local Liberal Democrats are in such trouble that on their website (here) they are pleased to declare that their 'Best Headline of 2011' was 'Liberals in Poll Shock' from the Gainsborough Standard in the 12th May 2011 edition following the local elections. Taking some comfort in the fact they lost three seats on West Lindsey District Council but took twelve seats on Gainsborough Town Council, meaning they could form an administration. Considering that people often dislike the increasing professionalisation of politics, this is not something to be proud of. It seems unlikely that anyone would think that loosing three seats on the district council (two in Gainsborough) and gaining the town council was really a success in the light that the Liberal Democrats were the only people to organise - squeezing out more independent candidates. It would be like David Cameron declaring at the next General Election. 'I'm glad I've lost 20 MPs, but I can take solice that we now have six councillors on Hull City Council.'

Perhaps the local Conservatives take pleasure in the fact that there best headline of 2011 was: Government Minister Eric Pickles in Visit to West Lindsey from the Lincolnshire Echo. A real coup that a Secretary of State would visit an otherwise perfectly safe Conservative seat.

Edward Leigh Attacks Alternative Voting Reform as 'Extraordinarily Dangerous'

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat (Sheffield Hallam), has defended the government's plans to hold a referendum on changing the Westminster voting system against claims that its proposed timing is 'extraordinarily dangerous'.

At question time on Tuesday, 27th July 2010, Mr. Clegg said holding the ballot on whether Members of Parliament should be elected by the alternative vote method on the same day as next May's elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, as well as local authorities in England, would boost turnout and save money.

Above: Edward Leigh MP quizzing
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

But Conservative, former minister, Edward Leigh MP, Conservative (Gainsborough), asked the deputy prime minister:

"Notwithstanding the fact that my new and best Right Hon. Friend would, I am sure, now deprecate the fact that if we had had the alternative vote in 1997 the Conservative party would have been reduced to a pathetic rump of 65 MPs, does he not think that precisely because AV is not proportional, it raises complicated questions? It is extraordinarily dangerous, therefore, to have the referendum on the same day as other elections, namely the Scottish elections. We need a proper debate on the issue."

Mr. Leigh is one of forty-four Conservatives backing a motion, tabled by Conservative backbencher Bernard Jenkin, which urges the coalition government to rethink its plans, warning that they contradict advice issued by the Electoral Commission.

But Mr. Clegg replied:

"About 84% of voters in England will be voting in any event next May. In Scotland and Wales everybody will be entitled to vote.

"About 39 million people will be anyway invited to vote next May and it seems to me, instead of asking people to constantly go back to polling booths to cast separate votes, it is perfectly right to say on a very simple issue, yes or no, to invite them to do so at, by the way, lower cost to the Exchequer - it saves around £17m - on the same day as other elections."

In response to criticism from Labour backbencher Jim McGovern about the failure of the government to consult the Scottish Parliament about the timing of the vote, Mr Clegg told MPs:

"I think it is disrespectful to the voters and people of Scotland to suggest that somehow they are incapable of making two decisions at once."

GE2010: General Election Summary Day #12

More progress for the Welsh Conservatives. A YouGov poll last night for ITV Wales had the Conservatives on 32% (Up 1% point), Labour on 35% (Up 1% point), Liberal Democrats 13% (down 1% point) and Plaid Cymru 13 (down 1% point). That would mean nine more Conservative MPs from Wales if translated into a uniform swing on election day. UKPollingReport has more (here).

Labour plan five new pledges for the General Election campaign. Gordon Brown is drafting five reasons to vote Labour and five reasons to reject the Conservatives. ConservativeHome has more (here).

Overnight, there were newspaper stories of immediate cuts from the Conservatives, cuts in the arts budget, cuts in the aid budget, cuts in middle class welfare, cuts in defence. ConservativeHome front page was plastered with it (here). However, The Economist was not satisfied (here):

"The squeezes [George Osborne] identified amounted to £7 billion ($11.4 billion) a year. In 2009-10 the deficit is £178 billion."

David Cameron underperformed at Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday. The Evening Standard (here) did not think Mr. Cameron has really been winning PMQs for a couple of months now, nor can it be said he been losing. He normally provides enough of a strong soundbite for the news bulletins and that is where his battle is to be fought.

Grant Shapps, Conservative (Welwyn Hatfield) and Shadow Housing Minister, has had a hit rate in the media which has been truely remarkable. He had a big splash in yesterday's Sun (and other newspapers) which showed that government spending on propaganda advertising was soaring in this election run-up. Labour ministers, said Mr Shapps,

"should not be raiding the taxpayers' pockets to try to keep their own seats."

Meanwhile Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats told Attitude, a gay lifestyle magazine, that David Cameron was

"someone who is 'very difficult to trust' on the issue of gay rights."

I wonder if he will play as dirty in the televised debates?

Watching the media, watching us. One of the most important roles that the blogosphere can play in the election campaign is to keep an eye out for media bias. Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome knocked The Telegraph yesterday evening for a story that The Mirror would have been proud of (in fact, it was written by an ex-Mirror journalist now working for the Barclay Brothers). Iain Dale has a bigger target today. He's got the BBC's One Show in his cross-hairs for an appalling piece of anti-Conservative bias last night.

Acknowledgement: ConservativeHome | ToryDiry | 15/01/10

Brown Facing Backbench Revolt - Update

This is an update to 'Brown Facing Backbench Revolt'.

I concluded my post yesterday saying:

"Whether the SnowStorm Plot melts with the snow, or whether new developments,
possibly tomorrow, keep the hopes, and the story, alive for those who would
rather have a new leader for Labour, only time will tell."

It seems clear now that the revolt has died, although not without a handful lingering developments throughout the day.

As morning broke across the country, shortly before seven o'clock, with britons opening their curtains to another snow-covered scene Nick Clegg MP, the Liberal Democrat's Leader emerged on GMTV and weighted into the matter - better late than never. He echoed the view of the Conservative Party Chairman yesterday and said:

"We don't need a secret ballot, the country needs a General Election... The Labour party now is more interested in talking about itself."

He refused to answer questions about any possiblity of a Liberal Democrat - Conservative alliance in the event of a hung parliament, saying that the Liberal Democrat platform of "

fair taxes... smaller class sizes... a new economy and a completely new politics after the expenses scandal"

was what voters wanted him to be talking about.

Half an hour later Labour's Eric Joyce MP criticised what he called 'aristocrats at the top of the party' who he said believed they could stay quiet and let others get rid of the Prime Minister, but added that ultimately the failed attempt to unseat Gordon Brown would unify the party.

"The whole party will be much more unified, and the ambiguity will be
gone.

"[The] aristocrats at the top of the party who thought that if they act coy
they could inherit the leadership of the party.

"It’s quite destabilising for people to give hints to people like Geoff
and Patricia.

"There’s an element of internal ambition where people aren’t prepared
to take their own risk."

Twenty minutes later Cabinet Ministe Shaun Woodward MP insisted that he sits in a happy Cabinet, and that the reaction to the Hoon/Hewitt plan showed the Labour party supports Gordon Brown.

As the story began to die down as it started to be starved of the oxigen of publicity Jack Straw MP, Justice Secretary, accused the BBC's Nick Robinson of 'a very substandard piece of journalism', after the BBC Political Editor named Mr. Straw as one of six cabinet ministers willing to support yesterday’s call for a secret ballot on Gordon Brown’s leadership on the BBC's News at Ten. He said:

"I was named by Mr Nick Robinson of the BBC - he sent me an apology."

He went on to say that the Hoon/Hewitt plan had failed, and would have the ultimate effect of greater unity in the party.

"This extraordinary announcement yesterday by Geoff Hoon and Patricia
Hewitt has sunk. It was completely ill-judged and completely ill-advised.

"I think it will have the affect of bringing people behind his
leadership even more.

"It is something we could easily have done with out – what we have got
to is keep on and make the case for a Labour government."

At ten o'clock however it was Iain Martin of the Wall Street Journal who had the most significant and interesting detail from yesterday, he reported:

"I’ve heard from two Labour sources now that the conversation was very difficult
and that Darling raised the possibility of Brown going, but the PM resisted. It
would be taking it too far, says a well-placed MP, to say that the mild-mannered
Darling told his old friend turned foe to call it a day. He said it was more
that Darling floated the possibility of a swift departure for the sake of the
party."

This was later rubbished by Niall Paterson of Sky News that an Aide to the Chancellor described it as 'categorically, unequivocally not true'.

Even the last Labour Deputy Prime Minsiter , John Prescott MP, entered the fray with a video blog on YouTube condeming the plotters suggesting that 'Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon and Charles Clarke should be the ones facing secret ballots in their own constituency parties'.

As the morning continued David Miliband MP, Foreign Secretary insisted that all the Cabinet were united in their determination to win the next election under Gordon Brown’s leadership saying:

"No member of the government was involve in the letter - we are all determined
to win the election under Gordon’s leadership."

On BBC 2's the Daily Politics Tony McNulty MP, denied that endorsements of Gordon Brown from cabinet members yesterday were lukewarm. There had been suggestions that statements from Mr. Brown's colleagues fell short of being ringing endorsements of Mr Brown's leadership throughout the morning.

Mr. McNulty instead suggested cabinet members are simply 'fed up' with having to say that Mr Brown is the right person for the leadership and added:

"The shame is this was on the end of a gaffe-prone week for the Conservatives."

After midday the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP, made his first public comments in a long-scheduled phone-in with BBC Radio Solent he said he was 'leading from the front' and would say 'what I think' even if at times it proved to be unpopular. He said:

"[E]very day there is a new problem, every day there is a new challenge - it is
how you deal with it [that was important]."

Asked about events on Wednesday, he said:

"I was actually holding meetings, first of all about Afghanistan and about some
of the terrorist implications of what had happened in America.

"And then, to be honest, for the rest of the day, I was dealing - as I am this morning - with how we can co-ordinate better our supply for dealing with these emergencies, so it's taken up very little of my time.

"I think it's one of these sidelines in this time when people are far more worried about - as they should be - about what we're doing to deal with the weather and how we're making sure that people are safe and secure.

"So it's not going to take up much of my time and hasn't certainly taken up much of my time today or will in future days."

And so around half past twelve today the SnowStorm Plot seemed to be over with the Prime Minister having the last word. But wait, no, what is this dark figure mincing towards us? None other that the master of the Dark Arts, (and presumably necromancy based on the number of time he's been back from the dead), Lord Mandelson who, as the sun set, reignited the flames of this narrative (which Gordon Brown had seemingly smothered at lunch time) saying that he was sure that Gordon Brown was the right man to lead Labour into a 'very vigorous, very effective' general election campaign.

"Yes I’m sure that Gordon Brown is the right man to lead us into an election campaign.

"[He] has a vision, has a huge knowledge of the economy… he has real drive, real determination.

"[Gordon Brown] will lead us into a very vigorous, very effective election campaign."

At the end of the day The Telegraph reported that Harriet Harman MP, Labour’s deputy leader, was being blamed for encouraging an attempted coup against Mr. Brown this week, with David Miliband MP, Foreign Secretary, also under suspicion of plotting.

Nick Clegg: Change you can't believe in

Desperately weak stuff from Nick Clegg over the weekend as the Liberal Democrats launched their conference in Bornemouth.

"So the choice before people is the choice between fake, phoney change from David Cameron's Conservatives, and real change the Liberal Democrats offer."

There has definately been some change on offer from the Liberal Democrats - They have changed their line on spending to what the Conservatives were saying when it was not what people wanted to hear. So by making a comparison between a cheap copy and the original item, Nick Clegg might want to consider who's the 'fakes' are.

We can all recognise that the Liberal Democrats are not in a position to change anything. But one option that is open to them is to shift the balance of power across the political spectrum. For instance during Paddy Ashdown's leadership they abandoned their policy of 'equidistance' to side with New Labour against the Conservatives and inso doing they did bring about a small, but significant, realignment in the British polity. They advanced deeply into Conservative held territory, with at least twenty parliamentary seats switching from the blue to the yellow.

Nick Clegg is being cautious: Rather than grab a historic opportunity to challenge Labour's dominant position on the centre-left, the strategy is almost entirely defensive, a desperate attempt to hold on to the Ashdown legacy. It is an approach that displays cowardice, a lack of imagination and hypocracy; an indictment of a party unwilling to stand up for its centre-left convictions.

The Liberal Democrats' Conference cntinues.

'Nasty' Nick Clegg has Set-Up an Attack Unit to Challenge the Conservatives

As the Liberal Democrat conference opened yesterday in Bournemouth it emerged that Nick Clegg MP, the Liberal Democrat Leader, has established an anti-Tory attack unit.

Mr Clegg accused David Cameron of being a con-man:

“David Cameron is the conman of British politics," he will say, "He’s put the ‘con’ back into the Conservatives, just telling people what they want to hear.

"[H]e wants to fix the broken society, yet he’s promised tax breaks to the rich. He talks the talk on the environment, yet he seeks out climate change deniers as new allies in Europe. He claims he wants a new politics, yet he won’t even own up to whether or not his big donors pay full British taxes. He says he’ll balance the nation's books, yet his most eye-catching proposal is raising the cost of salads in the House of Commons canteen.”

Chris Huhne MP (Home Affairs spokesman) has been charged with attacking the Shadow Chancellor:

"George Osborne who, with the best will in the world, has never done a job, never run a budget, never hired nor fired. He’s someone who has clearly got a very good education but doesn’t actually have that experience of the real world that Vince Cable so evidently does have. His inexperience on the most important issue of the election is going to be a real weak spot for the Conservatives.”

A Liberal Democrat Freedom of Information request was behind Friday's Channel 4 News report that six flagship Conservative pledges would cost fifty-three billion pounds.

The volume of the Liberal Democrat attacks on the Conservative Party reflects an increasing fear that many of their parliamentarians will be ousted by Conservative Parliamentary Candidates next year. The Liberal Democrats leadership has clearly been panicked by the defeats suffered in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset in the local elections in June by an increasingly sophisticated Conservative campaign machine.

The overall strategy thus looks very confused. On Thursday it was reported they were targeting Labour voters but Vince Cable's assertive talk of deep cuts in public spending is unlikely to appeal to Labour's heartlands. Given the weakness of the Brown-led Labour Government it is surprising that they are not doing better.

Liberal Democrats activists are voting with their feet. On Friday James Keeley, formerly Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Skipton and Ripon joined the Conservatives. Fifty Liberal Democrat councillors have defected to the Conservatives since David Cameron became Conservative leader.

It is noteworthy that the Liberal Democrats are going nasty at the same time as Eric Pickles' strategy of 'lovebombing' Liberal/Conservative marginals bears such handsome fruit. Locally we have also seen the nastiness that has been allowed to develop in the Liberal Democrats on West Lindsey District Council which culminated in Jackie Brockway's defection and the Saxilby By-Election last month.