Party Lines: November 5th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

What would otherwise have been a fairly quiet political day with BBC News teams on strike has been dominated by the events surrounding the Oldham East court ruling, which found Phil Woolas guilty of breaking electoral law. Woolas was later suspended from the party, who will not be supporting his appeal attempt.

Harriet Harman has publicly disowned Phil Woolas, saying it is “no part of Labour’s politics to try to win elections by telling lies”:

“The court has found that Phil Woolas said things that he knew were untrue during his election campaign. It is no part of Labour’s politics to try to win elections by telling lies. We believe in good community relations – in fact that is central to our politics – and Phil Woolas has been suspended from the Labour party.”

“The legal precedent set by this court judgment raises complex issues, including the dividing line between justified political debate and unacceptable remarks. This is an issue for all political parties, and Labour will ask the Electoral Commission to look at this.”

Speaking to Sky News in the immediate aftermath of the court ruling, former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer spoke of the potential legal consequences of today’s ruling:

“Inevitably the consequences of there being a successful challenge in an electoral court for the first time in a hundred years on the basis of fraud is bound to have ramifications right throu

gh the system.

“It means the courts are prepared to let people use them.”

However, Falconer said he didn’t believe any criminal charges would be brought against Woolas:

“This is an electoral court, what the court is interested in is what is the effect of what the candidate has done on the result of the election, it is not a criminal offence.”