Rt Hon Ed Davey MP
House of Commons
Westminster
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
26 March 2024
Dear Ed
The police have been called in by the Green Party to investigate claims made in a Harrogate Liberal
Democrat leaflet in a by-election happening in my constituency.
In a letter to postal voters the Liberal Democrat candidate, Andrew Timothy, said: “We all know,
whatever the situation nationally, the by election have in Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone Ward will
be between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. Labour came a distant third last time and the
Greens have stood down this election.”
The claim that the Greens have stood down is a lie.
According to our local media the local Liberal Democrats have stated: “The letter that went out on
Saturday was printed by an external printer who printed an earlier draft of the letter that was neither
approved by the candidate nor the election agent. At no point was the intent to mislead anyone.
There is going to be a correction issued once we’ve taken the appropriate advice from party HQ.”
It has been reported to me that the imprint states ‘Printed by YLD at Unit 12A Victoria Farm Estate
YO30 6PQ’. YLD stands for ‘York Liberal Democrats’. I do not think most people would view ‘York
Liberal Democrats’ as being ‘an external printer’. A lie by Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal
Democrats is being presented as an external printer’s mistake when the external printer is in fact the
Liberal Democrats.
I have been writing to you with incidents of appalling behaviour stacking up – it seems almost weekly
some new incident occurs - and you have not replied once. Let’s look at the issues I have raised:
FALSE STATEMENTS. Compensation had to be paid to me following untrue claims made in a
Liberal Democrat publication about my expenses.
POLICE CALLED IN. The police were called in following distribution of unimprinted literature
on the same day purportedly from a former Conservative councillor urging one group of
people to vote UKIP and another to vote Lib Dem. The literature was written and circulated
by the Lib Dems.
TROLLING. The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in 2017 asking people to share
information about me online. She couldn’t do it because it was ‘too obvious’.
STANDARDS FAILURE. The Liberal Democrat council group leader being told to apologise to
me following a standards investigation for statements she made about me which were
released into the public domain.
POLICE CALLED IN AGAIN. INFORMATION COMMISSIONER INVESTIGATING. Anonymous
information was sent to the media about me. The anonymous email was followed up by your
parliamentary candidate in an email to at least one journalist to check he had received it. A
police investigation under Operation Bridger revealed the anonymous emails were sent by
Felix Andrew, a senior local Lib Dem activist and national Lib Dem office holder. The
Information Commissioner has written to the Liberal Democrats about a potential breach of
data protection rules in respect of my personal details.
FALSE ALLEGATIONS. Another local Lib Dem activist, Ryan Kett, making unfounded claims to
IPSA alleging misuse of Parliamentary funds. IPSA rejected the allegations in full.
RACISM AND ARREST. A Liberal Democrat councillor arrested after posting hundreds of
antisemitic statements on X over weeks which were viewed by thousands of people but
apparently not one local Liberal Democrat saw any of them.
POLICE CALLED IN FOR A FOURTH TIME. And now we have a Liberal Democrat council by-
election candidate claiming falsely that one of his opponents has stood down to postal voters
on the day their postal votes arrive. Once again, the police have been called in. For your
reference, relevant part of the Representation of the People Act 1983 is paragraph 106 (5)
which states:
‘Any person who, before or during an election, knowingly publishes a false statement of a
candidate’s withdrawal at the election for the purpose of promoting or procuring the
election of another candidate shall be guilty of an illegal practice.’
Making false statements is not restricted to your councillors and council candidates.
Your Parliamentary candidate told voters in a press release that Harrogate’s rail station ticket
office was closing. Not true.
He said that our hospital is unsafe for patients and staff because of RAAC. The hospital chief
executive has written to me confirming that this is untrue and tells me he told the Liberal
Democrat candidate this face-to-face. You repeated this untrue allegation during Prime
Minister’s Questions.
I am wondering at what stage you might think it appropriate to intervene following the growing
evidence that you have an organisation that has totally gone rogue?
How many more times must statements given by your parliamentary candidate be shown to be
false? Do you expect to be repeating his false claims in the House again? How many more standards
judgements against your councillors are you willing to face? How many more police investigations do
you need before you acknowledge there is a deep-seated cultural problem in the local Liberal
Democrats?
You have not replied to any of my letters since 12 December and almost week-by-week more
incidents are occurring. The Speaker has raised your lack of response with your Chief Whip twice.
You empower this rogue part of your organisation to say and do these things because you have
turned a blind eye to their behaviour. Your silence gives the local activists the green light to behave
badly and reinforces the culture that enabled these things to happen.
Every time you fail to respond it just reiterates my growing view that you are not displaying the
principles established by Lord Nolan particularly in respect of leadership.
I wonder, even at this late stage, you might tell me what action you are going to take to curb the
behaviours of this obviously rogue organisation?
Yours sincerely
Andrew Jones MP
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