Tim Ireland

I’ve been unavoidably detained (and not for the reasons some might have you think), but I need to get a quick post up on the matter of Andy Rayment finally replying to me, mainly to point out that it was me who shared this correspondence with Bedfordshire on Sunday, so while I’m less than happy that anyone would be this unprofessional, it’s not libel in this particular instance, and it’s not even slander unless he’s been repeating it in public (as Dorries has been):

Bedfordshire on Sunday: John Balls Diary (Sep 26)

BLOGGER Tim Ireland, best known for his spat with Mid-Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries at a pre-election gathering in Flitwick, has been complaining about her to Mid-Beds Conservative chairman Andy Rayment.

The Tory chief has a clear opinion on Mr Ireland’s email replying: “I do not waste my time communicating with nutters so do not expect me to respond to any of your communications, electronic or otherwise.” That’s telling him.

To provide the full and proper context, I’ve included the email that prompted this reply below. You can read an earlier letter to Andy Rayment here.

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From: Tim Ireland [mailto:tim@bloggerheads.com]
Sent: 23 September 2010 10:53
To: admin@midbedsconservatives.com
Subject: FAO: Andy Rayment, Re: Dorries’ claims of ‘stalking’ (URGENT)

Dear Andy,

It has been well over 6 months since I wrote to you about the conduct of Nadine Dorries, and I have not yet received a reply.

(It has also been over 150 days since I filed a DPA/FOI request with the parliamentary office of Nadine Dorries, and I have not yet received a reply. Is this acceptable conduct for an MP in your view?)

Dorries is hiding behind an entirely false accusation that I stalked her, and I suspect from your ongoing silence that you believe her and take a similar position of silence dictated by a policy resting on this same false accusation.

If you believe I stalked Nadine Dorries, then where is the evidence you have seen? Would you care to specify what it is?

Be warned that when she is pressed for evidence, Dorries cites ‘vile’ and ‘abusive’ emails that she cannot produce, and talks of police investigations that never took place, then retreats to claims of police reports that amount to nothing more than nuisance complaints, if they were ever made at all, so you may be basing your judgement on nothing but lies.

Dorries refuses to name the officers involved in the complaints she claims to have made on the basis that I stalked her, when police procedure dictates that I would already know the names of the relevant officer(s) involved if I had done anything like what she describes, because they would have been in touch long before now.

Further, Dorries claims to have “forwarded relevant emails to police”, but every email to her office (bar one alerting her to an anonymous site attacking her and providing the relevant IP detail should she wish to pursue the matter) and every call/email to the Mid Beds Association related strictly to her false accusations of stalking. Without the accusations, there would only be one email to speak of! What did she base her original accusation of stalking on? The single email that sought to help her? The fact that I had dared to criticise her in public? How does the latter, or even my objection of false and entirely untested allegations of stalking being used against me, compare in any way to actual stalking or the stabbing of Stephen Timms?

Further, Dorries knows that a man named Charlie Flowers has been publishing my home address alongside false claims that I stalked her and others, and issued a death threat against her. When confronted with the news that he claimed to do this on her behalf, with her knowledge (!) she chose to give a misleading answer that implied she had reported Flowers to police when she had done no such thing. By failing to report or even discredit this man, which would have taken seconds of her time, Dorries put herself in a position where she was knowingly relying on the actions of cyber-vigilantes, and this is completely unacceptable and entirely indefensible, regardless of what she believes about my stalking her.

When will you be acknowledging this situation? What steps, if any, do you intend to take to remedy it?

Tim Ireland

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From: Admin
Date: Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 1:57 PM
Subject: FW: Andy Rayment, Re: Dorries’ claims of ‘stalking’ (URGENT)
To: Tim Ireland

Sent: 23 September 2010 12:33
To: Admin
Subject: Re: Andy Rayment, Re: Dorries’ claims of ‘stalking’ (URGENT)

I do not waste my time communicating with nutters so do not expect me to respond to any of your communications, electronic or otherwise

Sent from my iPhone

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I really don’t think it’s too much for someone in Rayment’s position to look at the evidence, or even maintain a little decorum. If you’d like to have a word to someone about his conduct, you can send a polite but stern letter to the Conservative Party if you like, but I can assure you that it will do little more than make you feel better.

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UPDATE – And here’s an unapologetic Dorries claiming my correspondence amounts to a ‘bombardment’.

I ask you; does this seem like the attitude you would expect from someone who genuinely thought they were dealing with someone who was unstable, and likely to do them or someone else a damage? Dorries has been playing the victim to explain away outright lies, but this gloating reveals what she’s all about.

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UPDATE – Thank you, humphreycushion and Dick Mandrake.

A private discussion about this 18-month campaign of harassment with some of the people who could be most instrumental in ending the matter has proven to be an enormous waste of time and effort, for reasons that should become clear to anyone with the patience to read through the detail of the state of play as it stands.

I need time to summarise all of this in a way that is easily understood and digestible, but first I need to be correct and precise on the detail.

However, anyone with an eye for detail should regard this to be an immediate call to action. I am as of now raising funds for representation in this matter, and it is my intention to proceed with criminal proceedings as soon as I am able.

Dominic Wightman

Dominic Wightman (aka Dominic Whiteman, aka Richard Walker) is a staunch Conservative and a failed entrepreneur and former bankrupt whose amateur terrorism intelligence network ‘VIGIL’ failed to stay afloat on the mere promise of money. He is the man most instrumental in the attacks on me by various parties in the past 18 months, and he has published many of the associated smears himself (often anonymously or under a false name) but has manipulated others into publishing the worst/riskiest of these smears.

In early 2009, Dominic Wightman tried to manipulate me into attacking one Michael Starkey, a former partner in VIGIL, which collapsed in a bitter dispute about honesty and money (see: Ashcroft) and, it is alleged by all former partners, an attempt by Wightman to falsify evidence of a planned Muslim extremist terrorism plot involving bombs inside the shopping trolleys of ‘grannies’. Wightman gained my trust through an endorsement from a BBC researcher on the Donal MacIntyre team, along with a reassurance that, although he was a local Tory, he had nothing to do with “(Anne) Milton’s lot” (see below). He offered me evidence that supported my existing/published evidence, reinforcing my existing claim that another former partner, Glen Jenvey, had also falsified evidence of Muslim extremism. The evidence was genuine, but it is alleged by Jenvey and supported by evidence that, from the day Wightman agreed to meet me and act as an ally in this matter, he was also privately sharing my home address with Glen Jenvey along with a false accusation that I was a convicted paedophile who had somehow escaped justice and “needed sorting out”.

Despite there being two relevant police investigations to date, the police have failed to properly interrogate or investigate Wightman about his role in events, despite it being proven that Wightman anonymously published an article (that he tried to blame on the same man he tried to have me target; Starkey), accusing me of being an unstable alcoholic with “a history of criminal activity as well as a dysfunctional family”.

When his authorship of that article was discovered, Wightman was confronted about it, and his wider role in manipulating myself and others to the extent where I had been publicly accused of being a paedophile and a stalker. He insisted on a meeting, even trying to tempt me with an offer of paid work, and when this offer was repeatedly refused, he immediately accused me of stalking him (by hand-delivering a letter to my house late at night), refusing all contact while publishing a section of our private conversation that he dishonestly portrayed as a ‘confession’ that I was a stalker.

Despite his denials, there is further evidence that around this same time Wightman forwarded my home address to a man named Charlie Flowers alongside a further false allegation that I was an ally of religious extremists. Charlie Flowers and his associates went on to repeatedly publish my address alongside that allegation, and the further allegation of stalking (ultimately phrased as “Tim Ireland stalks women and send threats to MPs”).

Dominic Wightman and Charlie Flowers have accused me of stalking the following people; Conservative MPs Anne Milton, Patrick Mercer and Nadine Dorries, and the right wing bloggers Paul Staines (‘Guido Fawkes’) and Iain Dale.

Guildford Police

Though much of what Wightman has published is hyperbole/hysteria from others that he presents elsewhere as fact, police appear to have believed his stories/assertions, at least so far as not taking the evidence I present seriously or giving it any due care and attention. I am concerned that any further approach at this stage that is not decisive will risk branding me as a time-waster, even though Wightman is now broadcasting an entirely false implication that I was arrested for stalking him, and had computers seized from my property.

Before approaching the police, I wish to settle the false allegations of stalking that have prompted no action by police, but appear to be stalling any investigation into Wightman. That requires the cooperation of the following people…

Paul Staines

In 2008, publishing under the pseudonym of ‘Guido Fawkes’, Paul Staines heavily implied that I had stalked him when I attended his sentencing for drink driving after a notice of this impending event was announced in the gossip column of a national newspaper. In 2009, at the same time I was being smeared as a paedophile, Paul Staines was also publishing as comments a series of entirely false claims and implications that I was associated with the Draper/McBride affair.

An attempt to confront him and/or his business partner Jag Singh about this (and the further smears of advertising partner Iain Dale) via their MessageSpace office led to an unknown staff member making an extended, teasing sexual proposition in response. An attempt to confront Jag Singh about this led to a letter from Jag Singh (also of MessageSpace) sent to my home address, accusing me of harassment primarily on the basis that I was not a client of theirs and had ‘no reason’ in his view to contact him or any of his staff. When asked how he had obtained my ex-directory address, Jag Singh claimed that he “could not remember”. Paul Staines did delete many of the false allegations he had published about me, but so far has retracted none of it.

Wightman today cites a one-sided account of this event as evidence of my stalking this blogger.

Phil Hendren

Publishing as ‘Dizzy’ from ‘Dizzy Thinks’, Hendren is a former Conservative candidate, right-wing blogger and friend to both Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries. In 2008, Phil Hendren published a highly opinionated account of my attending Paul Staines’ sentencing for drink driving, describing it in the headline as “stalker(ish)”, and his report of an event that he did not witness stands largely uncorrected. [snip]

[MINI-UPDATE (15 Sep) - Phil Hendren has now voluntarily updated a post that has prior to this been cited repeatedly by Dominic Wightman as evidence of my having stalked Paul Staines, and he has my gratitude, especially as he has now made his position clear and gone out of his way to show good faith. Content in this post that sought to put his earlier post and any perceived accusations/implications of stalking into context has been removed, as I see no further need for it at present. As a sign of good faith by way of return, the previous ban stopping Phil Hendren from commenting on my site is now lifted; at present only two people are banned from submitting comments for publication on my site, but Phil Hendren is not one of them. That's one down, folks. Note not one person down, or one scalp claimed, or any argument 'won', or any such nonsense, but Wightman has been robbed of one key piece of ammunition that he has repeatedly sought to use against me, and that's what this confrontation/explanation is all about.]

Anne Milton

Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford, refuses to elaborate on her past or present relationship with Dominic Wightman beyond saying (and here I paraphrase) it wasn’t quite what I thought it was. She refused any comment on her relationship with members of Wightman’s extended family (who are quite likely campaign contributors judging by their history, Wightman’s own account, and a very selective denial by Milton) on the basis that she could not comment on constituents*. Since border changes came into effect, the relevant people are no longer constituents, but she still refuses to comment on them.

Having being critical of Milton in the past, I assumed my 2005 microsite about her to be the reason for such an accusation. I recently asked Anne Milton’s staff “Is it Anne Milton’s position that I stalked her before, during or after the 2005 election?” Eventually I gained the reply that she did not take any stance on this, and “isn’t responsible for things other people say”. Sensing some evasion, I pressed the point and asked to be corrected if I were wrong about the following statement; “Anne Milton does not regard herself to have been stalked in any way, and has not said or done anything that she would regard to be a reason for anyone come to that conclusion and/or make that accusation on her behalf.”

The relevant email was forwarded to Anne Milton, but no correction was issued. I have since revealed that I can prove that Anne Milton privately accused me of stalking her, but there has been no response from her office about any of this. Milton has also managed to avoid any substantial comment on the actions of her former campaign workers and activists Dennis Paul and Mike Chambers, who in 2006 falsely accused a Lib Dem opponent of being a paedophile, and were also involved in the publication/promotion of a site airing numerous false claims about my personal life, describing me as a “bad father” with marital difficulties and accusing me of being a mentally unstable “computer hacker” dismissed from employment for “downloading porn”, likely to have “permanent residency status withdrawn”. That site further named what they took to be my employer at the time and gave their location, and listed and linked to some of their key clients in an obvious attempt to draw their attention to these accusations. It was later reported by one of my clients that they had received an anonymous phone call making similar accusations. There is no known record of Anne Milton’s opinion of these actions, and if they equate to potential stalking or harassment in her eyes.

Anne Milton also refuses to comment on a claim made since by Mike Chambers; that the evidence I submitted to the local Tory association was most likely ignored because Dennis Paul had made a claim (that Chambers says was widely believed within the organisation) that I was a computer criminal likely to unleash a virus or worse should anyone read an email from me, or follow any of the hyperlinks I provided (i.e. those establishing the clear connection between Chambers/Paul and these anonymous smears).

The current position of Jonathon Lord, the then-Chairman of the Guildford Conservative Association (and now Conservative MP for Woking), was that he/they disregarded my emails because he/they required a paper letter of complaint in order to act. Even at this stage it was obvious Chambers/Paul were far too close to the body some might expect to moderate their behaviour, and it had already been reported by a local whose reputation is above reproach that a letter by him published in the local newspaper critical of local Conservatives led to an unannounced visit by a Conservatives activist wishing to “discuss” the matter. There is no known record of Anne Milton’s opinion of these actions, and if they equate to potential stalking or harassment in her eyes. I found it to be intimidating if not downright frightening myself, especially in light of what had already been published about me and others (a phone number was published adjacent to the false claims of paedophilia, for example) and I did not want to risk revealing my home address in paper correspondence with that office at that time.

There was a limited police investigation into an email from Mike Chambers to the other primary victim of his smears. Police were clearly under the impression at the time that a key witness was an invented online persona; I now know this assertion to be untrue, and this single element alone raises the possibility that there has been an attempt to pervert the course of justice by parties unknown.

(*I was a constituent. She sure as hell ‘commented’ on me. As with her privately shared accusations of stalking, I doubt she is taking an entirely honest/consistent position on the matter.)

Nadine Dorries

Nadine Dorries is a Conservative MP and someone I have been highly critical of since she published and maintained a highly damaging and entirely false allegation about one of her critics, and began using dishonest moderation techniques on her ‘blog’ to avoid being called to account.

Dorries’ current position with regards to me personally would be totally unsupportable if she weren’t hiding behind a wall of silence supported by a false accusation of stalking; she claims to have made a credible report of harassment to police and further claims that this proceeded to the investigation stage. I know this claim especially has no basis in truth.

Nadine Dorries cannot or will not provide any details about which officer(s) she claims to have contacted and/or any of the relevant reference numbers. If she had made a credible complaint as she claims to have done, I would already be aware of the relevant details, because police would have been in touch by now, for a friendly warning if nothing else.

The only conclusion one can draw from her position is that she is hiding the fact that there are NO reference numbers to reveal because, even if she made complaints of harassment as she claims, then the receiving police recognised as a waste of their time and not worthy of so much as a friendly warning in my direction.

(NOTE – Glen Jenvey went through a similar process when first confronted about his falsification of evidence of extremism and also falsely claimed to have prompted an investigation.)

When pressed for evidence of my stalking her, Dorries cites emails that she cannot or will not produce that she claims came from me, but that I did not send. She also cites as evidence my attempts to confront her since she implied then claimed that I had been stalking her; a clever if underhanded self-reinforcing smear that is all-too-common among a small group of people, many of whom just happen to be friends, and all of whom are aligned with the Conservative Party.

Patrick Mercer

Mercer is a Conservative MP and former associate of Glen Jenvey (who smeared me as a paedophile) and Dominic Wightman (see above).

Like Dorries, Mercer and his staff use my attempts to confront them since their false accusation of stalking as their primary justification for their accusation of stalking; the initial attempts to contact Mercer directly and via his office would not be regarded as harassment, much less stalking, by any reasonable person. Subsequent attempts have been entirely within reason and the law, despite this leading to weeks then months of delays.

It is my firm belief that Mercer, like others, cottoned on to the effectiveness of the ‘stalker’ smear among his Conservative associates and used it himself to avoid any comment of his past/present relationship with Dominic Wightman and Glen Jenvey.

I have to hand evidence pre-dating my contact with Mercer that shows him ignoring the plight of an earlier victim of Wightman’s, suggesting an ongoing pattern of selfishness and neglect in this respect; Mercer knows Wightman is a conman and a liar capable of dangerous acts of incitement. He also knows that I am not his only victim. But he chooses to avoid taking any public position on the matter.

Iain Dale

Iain Dale is a blogger and publisher who has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to become a Conservative candidate after failing to secure the seat of Norfolk North in 2005. He and I have very different views on how a blogger should conduct themselves, especially with regards to comment moderation (i.e. if one should allow a high-traffic site to be used as a platform for anonymous attacks, or if bloggers should allow allies to pose as more than one person without interference), but the details of this are rarely discussed by Dale who has repeatedly chosen to portray these concerns as a series of political/personal attacks based on exaggeration if not fabrication.

Iain Dale published the original/recent claims that I had stalked Nadine Dorries and Anne Milton (the latter began as anonymous comments on his site) and at least reinforced the similar view/position of Mercer and his staff. These accusations of stalking are hysterical hyperbole at best and certainly not supported by the evidence.

Dale now refuses to discuss the position taken by Dorries that I had/have stalked her, despite being the first person to publicly accuse me of doing so. He also regards any detail of my contact with Anne Milton and her activists as irrelevant… but he continues to maintain that his opinion should and will stand, even when he knows he refuses to defend it in any detail, and knows that it is being presented elsewhere as fact.

Dale also accuses me of stalking him. In early 2009, after agreeing to contact Patrick Mercer because I was being smeared as a paedophile by Mercer’s then-associate Jenvey and his office was not passing messages on, Dale didn’t contact Mercer (justifying this on information he received after the fact) but instead (a) contacted the same office that was not passing messages on, (b) didn’t report the ‘paedophile’ smear, (c) didn’t even ask them to pass a message on, and (d) reported back to me, leaving me with the clear impression that Mercer was now personally aware of Jenvey’s actions when he knew this wasn’t the case.

When confronted about this, Dale refused to discuss it beyond a single incomplete account, part of which he insisted remain secret. He did not deliver a full account for a year and a half (i.e. until late last week). He was at the time also knowingly misleading his readers about a highly damaging claim about a Labour MP (Tom Watson) that he had deleted from his site but not retracted (that he must have known stood uncorrected in at least one major newspaper on the day as a direct result of his actions). Further, he was exposing me to great risk by running a highly-popular thread in an open, unregulated state at a time when I was being falsely accused of paedophilia. Given that Dale primarily runs regulated threads (comments are not published until he approves them) I took this to be a highly reckless act in the circumstances, if not a deliberate attempt at intimidation; he was certainly publishing other false claims at the time about my mental state and allegations about my involvement in political scandal.

Dale then went on to describe my attempts to confront/contact him about this (and my wish to have him contribute to a statement due to be submitted about what was by then an active criminal investigation) as harassment, addressing this with a public accusation while publishing a private email and presenting it entirely out of context.

This, like many other groundless accusations published by Dale, was later deleted but not retracted.

Despite the circumstances of this event, after years of throwing the word ‘cyber-stalker’ around at the slightest provocation (without filing a single complaint to police or proceeding with any civil action), he still expects that he should have been taken seriously at the time.

I am aware of the relevant law, and still regard my actions at the time to be reasonable, and within legal and moral parameters, though I can certainly understand how it might appear to the layman when my attempts to contact him are presented out of context (as they have been repeatedly by Dale and others, despite their knowledge of how this material was and is being used against me).

Dale still privately defends his multiple accusations of stalking/harassment as valid opinion, when he knows it is passed off elsewhere as fact (often alongside my homes address). Now, rather than make a statement or contribute to a statement like everybody else, as I requested a year and a half ago, he wants to contact police by phone at his leisure, presumably so he can deliver his statement over the phone (and ‘wing it’ based on his opinion/recollection).

I am not comfortable with this offer (which, it must be recognised, has only emerged because Dale has been put under pressure by other bloggers/readers to cooperate), especially when he stands by ‘opinions’ he can’t defend, and has been repeatedly careless about allowing these to be taken/understood as fact.

I would instead rather that Iain Dale drafted a statement acknowledging that he expressed the views he did as opinion, but he can’t even admit to himself that he based his opinions about my stalking Conservative MPs on his friendship/kinship with these people and not the circumstances in which I ‘attacked’ them (which he regards to be irrelevant detail).

However, I fear he will not cooperate to this extent, because it risks revealing, highlighting and/or admitting (at the very least) his negligence, and that of his Conservative friends/allies/associates; even in a private conversation he could not bring himself to comment on key evidence showing where/how he and they had been drastically wrong in their judgement.

(His failure to comprehend this has led to a situation where he has apparently convinced himself he has acted in good faith at every turn. There is no reasoning with him.)

Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft is a major figure in the Conservative Party (despite his pledge to step down after the election) and a major investor in the magazine published by Iain Dale; ‘Total Politics’.

Ashcroft (or even his diary secretary) could easily disprove a core claim made by Dominic Wightman in a way that would establish monetary fraud and be of enormous help to a string of victims that the public are largely unaware of at this stage, but his staff have refused to cooperate or even communicate (beyond accepting the request to cooperate, and then ignoring it).

CONCLUSION

I need to get lawyered-up and approach Guildford Police without the cooperation of any of these people, or possibly at the same time as proceeding with civil action that will be expensive, but highly effective in calling their collective bluff.

Given that others are likely to retreat from the same bluff once it is called, I should be able to minimise costs by starting with one single ‘domino’ but I will need donations from the public to get even to this level.

To repeat what I said at the outset:

I need time to summarise all of this in a way that is easily understood and digestible, but first I need to be correct and precise on the detail. However, anyone with an eye for detail should regard this to be an immediate call to action. I am as of now raising funds for representation in this matter, and it is my intention to proceed with criminal proceedings as soon as I am able.

If civil proceedings are required to make this happen, relevant measures may precede any attempt to pursue the matter through the criminal justice system. I am afraid I cannot predict exactly what the immediate priorities will be until I have received advice. All I can say is that the intent is to clear my name and protect my family, not settle scores.

Please donate what you can spare; this matter goes nowhere without money (justice for the rich; yay!), and Wightman gives every indication that he will remain a menace for as long as the law fails to recognise what he has done.

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UPDATE – Iain Dale has claimed that this post contains “lies” about him. As usual, I challenged him to list specifics, and I’m happy to post the response and my subsequent reply if he’s willing to have it aired. I doubt he’ll dare to expose any of his ‘opinion vs. fact’ games to sunlight; he never has before. FFS, it took him a year and a half to expose his account of the Mercer calls to public scrutiny, but in the interim he saw fit to accuse me of stalking him based on his opinion of his version of events (an account/version which went largely unseen and therefore unchallenged).