Gerald Smith useful links

We have been asked to provide information on Labour Party links/email addresses to help readers complain about the outrageous actions of Gerald Smith. Let us know how you get on?

Yorkshire & Humber Labour Party website.

By email: yorkshire@new.labour.org.uk

By post:
Yorkshire and the Humber Labour Party
20/22 Cheapside
Wakefield
WF1 2TF

By telephone:
01924 291221

Labour Members of Parliament:

Especially useful to complain to, Ed Miliband Labour Leader and Rosie Winterton Chief Whip.

Barnsley Central: Dan Jarvis MP
Website: www.danjarvismp.co.uk
Tel: 01226 787 893
Email: dan.jarvis.mp@parliament.uk

Barnsley East: Michael Dugher MP
Website: www.michaeldugher.co.uk
Tel: 01226 784 483
Email: dugherm@parliament.uk

Batley & Spen: Mike Wood MP
Website: www.mikewood.org.uk
Tel: 01274 335 233
Email: woodm@parliament.uk

Bradford South: Gerry Sutcliffe MP
Website: www.gerrysutcliffe.org.uk
Tel: 01274 288 688
Email: sutcliffeg@parliament.uk

Bradford West: Marsha Singh MP
Website: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/marsha_singh/bradford_west
Tel: 01274 402 220
Email: singhm@parliament.uk

Don Valley: Caroline Flint MP
Website: www.carolineflintdomvalley.com
Tel:  01302 623 330
Email: flintc@parliament.uk

Doncaster Central: Rosie Winterton MP
Website: www.rosiewinterton.co.uk
Tel: 01302 396 297
Email: rosie.winterton.mp@parliament.uk

Doncaster North: Ed Miliband MP
Website: www.edmiliband.org.uk
Tel: 01302 875 462
Email: milibande@parliament.uk

Great Grimsby: Austin Mitchell MP
Website: www.austinmitchell.org
Tel: 01472 342 145
Email: mitchella@parliament.uk

Halifax: Linda Riordan MP
Website: www.lindariordanmp.co.uk
Tel: 01422 251 800
Email: riordanl@parliament.uk

Hemsworth: Jon Trickett MP
Website: www.jontrickett.org.uk
Tel: 01977 722 290
Email: jtrickett@jontrickett.org.uk

Huddersfield: Barry Sheerman MP
Website: www.barrysheermanblog.co.uk 
Tel: 01484 451 382
Email: sheermanb@parliament.uk

Kingston-upon-Hull East: Karl Turner MP
Website: www.karlturnermp.org.uk
Tel: 01482 781 019
Email: karl.turner.mp@parliament.uk

Kingston-upon-Hull North: Diana Johnson MP
Website: www.dianajohnson.co.uk
Tel: 01482 319 135
Email: johnsond@parliament.uk

Kingston-upon-Hull West & Hessle: Alan Johnson MP
Website: www.alanjohnson.org
Tel: 01482 219 211
Email: johnsona@parliament.uk

Leeds Central: Hilary Benn MP
Website: www.hilarybenn.org
Tel: 0113 244 1097
Email: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk

Leeds East: George Mudie MP
Website: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/george_mudie/leeds_east
Tel: 0113 232 3266
Email: george@gmudie.fsnet.co.uk

Leeds North East: Fabian Hamilton MP
Website: www.leedsne.co.uk
Tel: 0113 249 6600
Email: fabian.hamilton.mp@parliament.uk

Leeds West: Rachel Reeves MP
Website: www.rachelreeves.net
Tel: 0113 263 0411
Email: rreevesmp@gmail.com

Morley & Outwood: Ed Balls MP
Website: www.edballs.com
Tel: 0113 253 9466
Email: ed@edballs.com

Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford: Yvette Cooper MP
Website: www.yvettecooper.com
Tel: 01977 553 388
Email: coopery@parliament.uk

Penistone & Stocksbridge: Angela Smith MP
Website: www.angelasmith-mp.org.uk
Tel: 0114 283 1855
Email: angela.smith.mp@parliament.uk

Rother Valley: Kevin Barron MP
Website: www.kevinbarronmp.com
Tel: 01909 568 611
Email: baronk@parliament.uk

Scunthorpe:  Nic Dakin MP
Website: www.nicdakin.com
Tel: 01724 842 000
Email: nic.dakin.mp@parliament.uk

Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough: David Blunkett MP
Website: http://davidblunkett.typepad.com/rt_hon_david_blunkett_mp/
Tel: 0114 273 5987
Email: blunkettd@parliament.uk

Sheffield Central: Paul Blomfield MP
Website: www.paulblomfield.co.uk
Tel: 0114 272 2882
Email: paul.blomfield.mp@parliament.uk

Sheffield Heeley: Meg Munn MP
Website: www.megmunnmp.org.uk
Tel: 0114 258 2010
Email: munnm@parliament.uk

Sheffield South East: Clive Betts MP
Website: www.clivebetts.com
Tel: 0114 275 7788
Email: clive.betts.mp@parliament.uk

Wakefield: Mary Creagh MP
Website: www.marycreagh.co.uk
Tel: 01924 386 124
Email: mary@marycreagh.co.uk

Wentworth and Dearne: John Healey MP
Website: www.johnhealeymp.co.uk
Tel: 01709 875 943
Email: john.healey.mp@parliament.uk

York Central: Hugh Bayley MP
Website: www.hughbayley.co.uk 
Tel: 01904 623 713
Email: hugh.bayley.mp@parliament.uk

Yorkshire Local Councils Associations:

York House, Outgang Lane, Osbaldwick, YORK.YO19 5UP

Tel: 01904 436622
E-mail: admin@yorkshirelca.gov.uk Website: http://www.yorkshirelca.gov.uk/Core/Yorkshire-Local-Councils-Associations/Pages/Default.aspx.

Chief Officer: Sheena Spence
Local Councils Officer: Ian Strong
Local Councils Officer: David Morton
Administrative Officer: Joy Morgan

Gerald Smith condemns himself in own words! Is he stupid or dissembling?

The Advertiser this week reported on the issuing to Gerald Smith of a formal police caution for an election offence, can’t give you a link to the story as it is only in the print edition, not online, pity! I quote:

‘A police spokeswoman said Cllr Smith had admitted publishing a leaflet without his name on it. She added: “He was given a verbal caution which is a formal warning in respect of failing to put the relevant information on an election leaflet as required by law.”‘ My emphasis.

So far so good. The advertiser then reported Smith’s viewpoint:

‘Cllr Smith stood by the content of the leaflet this week, adding that the absent publication detail was a simple oversight. He said: “It was a mistake. The leaflet said it was published by the party but I had missed my name off. When I went to the police station they asked if I would accept a caution. I said yes, because we don’t want to waste taxpayers money on this by going to court. They had my other leaflets, which had my name on them. They were happy that it was just an error.’

Then I remembered Smith had a letter published in June in the Advertiser letters columns, pretty bad tempered and readers should note repeats the libels contained in the illegal leaflet itself, I quote it in full as it provides evidence of this councillors significant breach of all codes of conduct applicable to Smith!

‘Pilloried in letter
Sir-I am not the first nor will I be the last to be pilloried by Jim Fletcher (see Advertiser letters, June 10th) for telling the truth.
Fletcher states that information in the leaflet was untrue and libellous. As he did not mention all of what was in the leaflet I will.
It made the comment that David Gee, over 44 full parish council meetings in the four-year term of office, had neither made a comment nor asked a question and then went on to say: “Do you want to be represented by the silent man.”
As J. Fletcher has attended about two meetings in the four year he wouldn’t know either way.
David Gee was re-elected with just five votes over the nearest candidate. At the ensuing first meeting of the new term of office he had the opportunity to challenge me over the leaflet. He remained silent, as usual.
The comments on Paul Martin, who registered his last political affiliation at the parish council as Christian Democrat, Which to my information is a far right European organisation. This can be verified by the parish clerk.
This man also reported a fellow parish councillor to the police in 2010 for spying on him at a rally in the town centre organised by P. Thirlwall.
The councillor went to the rally to see if anything was to be done about the flooding in the area as he had been completely flooded out twice over two years.
This is not what one would call a Christian act, is it Mr Fletcher? But then, you would know all about right-wing politics as your political stance is right of Atilla the Hun.
The indent on the leaflet stated published and printed on behalf of Holderness Lab Party at 4 brook Close, Aston.
I think that should be sufficient and legal.
Cllr Gerald Smith, Rotherham Borough Council. Bramley.’

Tales from the Town Hall has reported on another interesting angle to this story:

‘The Cops, The Councillor And The Caution

There’s never a dull moment in Rotherham. A councillor slags off two hopefuls in a parish council election, he then gets cautioned by the police for his name not being on the leaflet, and now Rotherham Council claims the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire could himself have broken the law. Click for full story.’

Are we witnessing here, the abuse of the officers code of conduct, using council employees to provide legal advice and resources on political matters? It certainly looks like it to me!

One thing is quite obvious, at least to me, that Gerald Smith may have accepted a caution but he has not fulfilled the other criterion that of acceptance of guilt! Surely this makes the caution invalid?

The other issue that has not been adequately dealt with is the outrageous libels committed firstly in the leaflet that had a limited circulation but repeated casually in his letter above, published to a significantly larger number.

The current state of defamation law and the extraordinarily high cost of litigation makes protecting reputations through the civil courts prohibitively expensive and justice available to only the very rich indeed! Which makes Smith’s repetition of these outrageous lies about fellow parish councillors and opposing candidates egregious and totally intolerable in a member of a political party pretending to open democratic politics! This abuse should certainly be enough for the Labour Party to take issues of Smith’s unacceptable behaviour by their own members and elected position holders, I wonder? But don’t hold your breath!

This perhaps is the most serious of all the problems facing this egregiously arrogant, bullying and less than honest local politician whose time has clearly come to go! Doing nothing is no longer an option!

A big thank you to those of you who have already contacted Rothpol with background information on our Gerald. If you have your anecdote to share with us please see RikiLeaks. Termite is collating the information and working on suitable posts, you can contact him directly here, termite@hushmail.com.

Gerald Smith guilty! takes his punishment!

Posted on July 25, 2011 by rothpol

Read the whole story in The Gerald Smith files.

Gerald Smith – breaking story, significant developments!

News is coming in of extraordinary developments in the saga of Gerald Smith and the Parish Council elections in Aston cum Aughton last May.

Victory it would appear for the downtrodden for a change! Full story later…..

If you are new to this story, read the Gerald Smith Files.

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Aston cum Aughton – spin at work?

Those who cannot get through Friday without their weekly fix of the letters pages in the Rotherham Advertiser, will not have missed Jim Fletcher’s letter of Friday 24th June.

In this weeks issue of Friday July 8th, a full two weeks after Jim Fletcher published his excoriating letter on matters appertaining to Aston cum Aughton Parish council, Gerald Smith and the Clerk to the Parish council, the Clerk’s response appeared.

The clerk’s letter is a spin doctors delight! Whilst being a disaster in PR terms at the same time. It in fact admits the substance of Jim Fletcher’s points, reference the way the Parish is run and the over cosy relationship of the Clerk to the Parish Labour Group and Gerald Smith in particular.

Familiarity breeds contempt, in this case it seems to have blinded them to the fact that the way this Parish Council is being run does not fit well with the appropriate codes of conduct, standing orders seem to be flouted and utmost secrecy surrounding the detail of financial matters raises the most serious of issues and would benefit from detailed investigation, by the police perhaps.

Why does Alan Hodkin start his letter by denying something, of which he was never accused?

To whit, attending meetings of Holderness Labour Party!

A quite ridiculous denial designed to confuse or divert the reader, who likely will not still have the edition from which he quoted.

This is a very old spin doctors trick to gain some moral authority before making his points. In this instance it just leaves him looking rather foolish! We are not so easily bamboozled.

The Clerk goes on to inform readers that he essentially confirmed the substance of Jim Fletcher’s letter, I précis:

‘At Aston cum Aughton, the Parish Labour Group meet prior to the full Parish meeting with the Clerk in attendance advising them. Those Labour councillors present, transact the business, then force these decisions through the full Parish meeting using weight of Labour numbers to get their way’!

Nothing new there then! But it gives us a wonderful insight to the attitudes prevalent at Parish councils in Rotherham. They are apt to be run as ‘fiefdoms’ by those powerful politically and Aston cum Aughton Parish council is no exception.

Perhaps he should not have listened to Gerald Smith after all? Or is he just unfit to hold his position?

If this is all too familiar to you at your Parish or Town council, please get in touch and share it with us, see RikiLeaks.

Read comment from Jim Fletcher.

Aston-cum-Aughton – Labours claims examined!

Holderness Labour’s outrageous leaflet, distributed over the weekend in the Parish of Aston-cum-Aughton, is littered with factual inaccuracies designed to mislead! View here.

The leaflet purports to reveal politically damaging facts about two of Aston-cum-Aughton Independent candidates in this year’s Parish Council elections, David Gee and Paul Martin.

David Gee, a Chartered Accountant, was first elected in 2007, along with Paul Martin. David has repeatedly volunteered to serve on the Finance Committee, as probably the best qualified member of the Parish Council to be available, but this offer has been persistently rebuffed.

I am concerned at the poor memory displayed by Labour Members if they cannot recall the questions put to them by David Gee throughout 2007 and 2008. David Gee is not a politician, but a well motivated elected public servant, wishing simply to serve his local community. No small wonder then, that after continually being rebuffed, often in the most hostile of manners, it might tend to deter questions and contributions from the floor of the meeting from anyone outside the Parish Labour Group!

There is another contributory factor at work here. Unusually, for a Parish Labour Group, it is not uncommon for them to meet prior to meetings (caucus), all important decisions are made there and the resulting decisions forced through the actual Parish Meeting using Labours current majority of Parish Councillors. A carbon copy of the way the Labour Group on RMBC behave in fact! Why do I not find that a surprise?

David, I can report, is an assiduous attender of meetings and a regular, active participant at the ‘Recreation and Open Spaces Committee’ and could not convincingly be described as a ‘Silent Man!’

It is precisely because, David Gee and others have been met with such obstructionism and exclusion, if not downright hostility from the Parish Council Labour members, they have offered themselves as candidates, in greater numbers than before, for election to the Parish Council this year.

They are doing this to provide a real choice of direction to voters. A chance of change from the leaden hand of Labour domination and rigid control, to a more open and inclusive vision for the future direction of Parish politics!

A much more desirable vision, don’t you think? No wonder Labour are so worried! There are now viable alternatives to vote for, instead of the Labour Donkeys, with the proverbial Red Rosettes stuck to them!

Turning to the accusations levelled at Paul Martin, the truth is much simpler and shows that facts were not checked before making their published statement!

Paul, it is true, is a Christian and a passionate democrat. Along with many others locally and nationally joined the fledgling political Party the Christian Peoples Alliance. Paul left when they became intolerant of diverging opinions and for a short period, around 6 months, joined another UK registered Political Party the Christian Democrats, not to be confused with any other political party operating anywhere else in the European Union! Therefore, for Labour to allege links to any European Political Party, right wing or otherwise, is a total fabrication!

Paul Martin is a founder member of Rotherham Independents. He joined because Rotherham Independents are Not, in any traditional sense a Political Party, but a group of fed up local folk, who see the broken political system at work and are prepared to stand up and be counted for a change, and are prepared to examine issues before making up their minds, simple as that!

Again, if Labour had bothered to check their facts prior to publication or distribution, they would have discovered that Aston-cum-Aughton Independents is a part of Rotherham Independents and therefore their assertion, that Paul has changed Parties once more, is totally false as well!

As for his place of residence, like many Parish Councillors throughout the Borough, even Labour ones, do not actually live in, but very close to, the Parish electoral boundaries. The rules allow for this, as electoral boundaries never adequately reflect the local situation on the ground.

Labour are very unwise to criticise Paul Martin for living close to, but not within, the Parish, boundaries, they have many such Parish Councillors, in their own ranks. People who live in glass houses, perhaps?

So there you have it! Labour have issued a pack of lies and deceit. I imagine the leaflet is potentially, both illegal and actionable. Oh dear!

Labour must be in a panic if they are tempted to stoop so low!

Published previously:

Aston Parish Council Elections – Labours dirty tricks exposed!

Judge for yourself – Aston-cum-Aughton – more on dirty tricks!

Aston Parish Council Elections – Labours dirty tricks exposed!

As this post is being prepared, Holderness Labour are distributing this scurrilous leaflet in the Parish of Aston. They must be extremely worried if they are going to the trouble of attacking them in this disgraceful way!

I reproduce a scan of the offensive leaflet:

The following points should be noted:

David Gee is a trained Accountant, but they make no mention of keeping him off the Finance Committee or not giving him access to the full accounts.

Paul Martin does not live in the ward but lives within the permitted boundary for election purposes (one of the Labour Councillors Jane Austen  sat on the Council for some time even though she had moved to Eckington  which is almost in Derbyshire!!  He did not change from party to party but was forced to realine himself as the parties themselves dissolved or ran into problems.

They know so little about our arrangements that they are mixing up a “group” with a party.

Don Blow – Aston-cum-Aughton Independents a group of independent minded folk – part of Rotherham Independents.

Editorial Note: At risk of seeming to be pedantic, a quick glance at Labour’s imprint and other deficiencies suggest that this leaflet is probably illegal!  Not very clever are they?

4 Brook Close, Aston, Sheffield, S26 2GB, isn’t that the home address of Holderness RMBC councillor Gerald Smith? Bit daft to put your home address on a leaflet such as this, I would have thought?

Rik.

Aston-cum-Aughton Parish Council Website, for more information.