The Nadine Dorries Cries ‘Stalker’ Flowchart

Dear Journalists,

I know it is tempting to carry out interviews as follows and get things done by lunchtime…

“Were you really stalked by [name]?”

“YES! Don’t make me sue you! I know people!”

“OK, thanks for your time.”

… but please remember that the person you are talking to in this case is a liar*, and you’ll really want a little more to go on than her word.

So, to help you in your quest to determine the substance of Nadine’s claims, I have created the following flowchart that contains key questions that someone (other than me) might like to ask Nadine Dorries at some stage:

The Nadine Dorries Cries ‘Stalker’ Flowchart (click for enlarged version)

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Good luck in your quest. Oh, and watch your step. Nadine Dorries is an extraordinarily vindictive person with a long track record of attacking her critics and/or perceived enemies with entirely false accusations, some of which may be as dangerous as they are damaging.

Cheers

Tim Ireland

[*I would say 'self-confessed liar' but Nadine Dorries appears to be a little bit confused on this point at the moment: she has gone from saying to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards that her blog is 70% fiction, to saying that what she really meant all along was 30% fiction, to saying that every word on her blog is absolutely true.]

Exposing Nadine Dorries and the little gang of Conservatives who cried ‘stalker’

Nadine Dorries is currently attempting to explain away an enormously damaging admission about misleading her constituents with a compelling sob story about stalkers.

This is no better than her hiding behind a human shield at the height of the expenses scandal with an hysterical if not calculated announcement about fears of a suicide (which she made just after some ill-advised comments about expenses that made her look both corrupt and arrogant).

I am here to attempt to tempt you far enough into the detail to enough to not only establish the sob story of Nadine Dorries to be a calculated lie, but also expose a dark side of right wing blogging that the present Conservative leadership have repeatedly turned a blind eye to.

I warn you that even in this condensed state, there is a fair amount of detail, not least because Dorries’ lies involve a series of people who have intersecting personal relationships and political interests. Some of Dorries’ supporters would delight in dismissing it all as a wild conspiracy theory on that basis, but if you would care to look into the detail below you will find that anything reliant on mere suspicion, opinion or contention is clearly defined with appropriate language.

Unlike some, I do not seek to pass off an expression of opinion, belief or fiction as fact.

Unlike some, if challenged on any of the specifics, I can produce evidence that shows what I publish is both accurate and pertinent.

So, let’s begin by getting you sorted for a nice hot tea or coffee, and perhaps a biscuit.

I’ll wait while you fetch and fix.

Seriously, you’ll thank me later. You’ll at least want to hydrate at some stage.

Go. Do.

(waits)

All ready? Good. Let’s proceed with the detail:

In January 2009, I uncovered a plot to generate tabloid headlines and anti-Muslim sentiment through fabricated evidence of extremism in web forums.

The man who fabricated the relevant evidence was Glen Jenvey, then a professional associate of (and source of intelligence for) the Conservative MP Patrick Mercer; a man on the fringes of his party, who puts himself about as an expert on matters of extremism and terrorism and earns quite a bit of money on the back of this.

Mercer’s office refused to respond to (never mind act on) emails and calls alerting them to Jenvey’s actions, even after Jenvey submitted/published dozens of entirely false claims – via over 50 websites – that I was a convicted paedophile.

I am not a paedophile, convicted or otherwise, though I have been labelled a ‘nutter’ for daring to object to these damaging lies.

Mercer later denied working with Jenvey after his fabrications were exposed, but this was a lie. He now refuses to discuss the detail with me or anyone else anyone on the grounds that I am an “electronic stalker”, claiming that he has received advice not to speak to me or even about me.

I am not a stalker, electronic or otherwise, though I have been labelled a ‘nutter’ for daring to object to these damaging lies.

The source of Jenvey’s claims of paedophilia appears to be another associate of Mercer’s named Dominic Wightman (aka Dominic Whiteman, aka Richard Walker, aka Olivia James, etc. etc. etc.). Jenvey maintains that Wightman told him that I was a convicted paedophile who had escaped justice and assured him that I needed ‘sorting out’ before emailing that man my ex-directory home address. Wightman denies some of this, but his previous denials have been gross distortions if not outright lies. Obviously, that does not make him guilty of this act, only a liar, but his denials do little to counter the evidence that he refuses to discuss in detail…. on the grounds that I am an “electronic stalker”

Mercer will not say if or when he broke contact with Wightman and why (again, citing his claim that I am an “electronic stalker”; he won’t comment on Wightman’s harassment of me because he claims I am harassing him by complaining about it).

While Jenvey was smearing me as a paedophile and members of Mercer’s staff were refusing to act on the matter, Iain Dale promised to contact Patrick Mercer directly to alert him to this, failed to do so, then lied about it. It only emerged a year later that Dale had called the very same staff members that he knew were not passing messages on, didn’t mention the paedophilia smears to them, and didn’t even ask them to pass any kind of message on. Iain Dale still equates this with contacting Patrick Mercer and fulfilling his promise while refusing to be drawn on the detail, which is a gross distortion of the truth if not an outright lie.

Shortly after pulling this stunt, Iain Dale then hosted a discussion thread that was deliberately held open for no other reason that I can determine other than facilitating his libel of the Labour MP Tom Watson during ‘Smeargate’; Dale had issued an entirely false claim that Tom Watson was CCed on a crucial Draper/McBride email, which cost two newspapers an apology and a “substantial sum in damages”. Despite being forced to withdraw the claim, Iain Dale failed to retract it in a timely manner (he later lied about when he had done this), and actively exploited a series of highly questionable content and comment manipulation techniques that left his readers with the false impression that his accusation stood. The best that can be said in his defence was that he knowingly misled his readers on the specifics because he was certain of Tom Watson’s overall guilt

At the same time this was happening and the relevant discussion thread was being held open by Dale in a way that would publish any comment immediately (not standard procedure on Iain Dale’s site by any means, and risky at the best of times), two bloggers aligned with Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries, ‘Guido Fawkes’ (Paul Staines) and ‘Tory Bear’ (Harry Cole or Alexander or whatever the hell his name is), both started publishing entirely false claims and implications that I was associated with Draper and/or McBride and/or their planned smear campaign(s). On Staines’ site particularly, this involved a series of false claims and implications that I not only supported the plans of Draper/McBride, but did so in return for money.

I am not a smear merchant, paid or otherwise, though I have been labelled a ‘nutter’ for daring to object to these damaging lies.

Iain Dale, too, had begun to publish comments suggesting I was a smear merchant in league with Draper/McBride, but was only deleting my comments complaining about it. By this stage, Dale was not only using the open thread as a weapon against Tom Watson, but as a weapon against me, and he knowingly did so at a time when his thread was one of the hottest in town, and by then turning up for searches of my name, at the same time that Glen Jenvey was known to be cruising for open comment threads in which to publish his false allegations of paedophilia, while armed with my address and threatening to use it.

Dale was ignoring emails about this, and deleting comments urging him to moderate more responsibly. I still do not know if Dale did this mainly out of ignorance or malice, as he refuses to discuss the detail… on the grounds that I am an “electronic stalker”.

Iain Dale now cites repeated phone calls made in these circumstances as evidence of my stalking him, as does Dominic Wightman. Neither person mentions the context in which the calls were made. Years earlier, Dale also published entirely false claims that I had stalked Anne Milton and Nadine Dorries. He has offered to delete these claims from his site, but refuses to issue a retraction, despite knowing that what he privately defends as opinion or hyperbole is being presented by Dominic Wightman and others as fact.

(Dale’s only response to this is a denial about contact with Wightman. This is as meaningless as his denials about contact with Jenvey; he cannot substantiate what he has published, even as opinion, and yet continues to maintain these false claims knowing that his word on the matter is being used against me in an ongoing campaign of harassment. He does not have to engage in a conspiring dialogue for this to be wrong. His politics is blinding him to the action that should be obvious; we should as a blogging community be rejecting the antics of people like Wightman, not actively exploiting them to gain advantage over rivals or silence critics.)

When Dominic Wightman’s schemes and duplicity were discovered (he had been posing as my ally for months as his harassment campaign got rolling), he went to ground and I instead found myself having to deal with a group of self-described ‘cyber activists’ led by a man named Charlie Flowers; a man who had previously worked with Wightman in his harassment of Glen Jenvey (a former associate of Wightman’s in an amateur ‘terror tracking’ venture that collapsed in acrimony and disputes over money).

Charlie Flowers began publishing my home address alongside a claim that I was in league with Muslim extremists.

I am not in league with extremists, Muslim or otherwise, though I have been labelled a ‘nutter’ for daring to object to these damaging lies.

Wightman is the most likely source of my home address and the only possible source of the relevant ‘evidence’; at present he explains this away with a fantastical and absurd claim about his computer being hacked.

Charlie Flowers, both alone and in conjunction with several people he was manipulating at the time, repeatedly broadcast my home address to people they regarded to be hostile toward me (including members of the BNP). When the accusations of association with extremists began to fall flat, they proceeded to publish my home address alongside the accusations that I had stalked Patrick Mercer, Paul Staines, Iain Dale, Anne Milton and Nadine Dorries. They further claimed that I had sent death threats to MPs, implying Dorries to be the main target.

When confronted about this, Charlie Flowers made a statement that he was doing this on behalf of Nadine Dorries and others and claimed to have informed her of his actions and intentions. When this was brought to the attention of this MP, Dorries only pretended to report him to police and instead (she claims) reported me to police for stalking her.

(Currently, Dorries is blurring the lines between claims she now makes about four unnamed people stalking her, but is heavily implying that I have been sharing her personal details on the web. This is not only untrue, it is astonishingly near to the opposite of the truth; Dorries has knowingly exploited a situation involving the publication of my home address. She has also had a man over to her home as a dinner guest who, prior to all of this, had repeatedly published my home phone number on his site – he says just to ‘annoy’ me. Further, in recent weeks, Dorries has attacked a constituent of hers who had dared to be file a complaint about this. Dorries attacked this constituent with a false allegation that this woman was a benefits cheat, and furnished journalists with the woman’s name and home address as part of her smear campaign. I do not know how Dorries came by this personal/sensitive data, but surely she should face repercussions if she came by it as part of her duties as an MP, through a letter to her or via her office/party access to the electoral role, for example.)

Later, during the 2010 election, I was invited by constituents of Nadine Dorries to a public meeting where they expected Dorries to lie about the investigation into her expenses, and the circumstances surrounding it.

(During this investigation, Dorries explained inconsistencies in her account to the Commissioner by stating that 70% of what she published on her blog was fiction. After the investigation concluded – she claims in a way that exonerated her of any wrongdoing – she publicly backtracked to claiming she had only meant 30% of her blog was fiction, before going on to maintain a day later that every word she published on her blog was absolutely true. I have also recently discovered that Dorries insisted on a change to the date of the hustings (!) in a way that avoided any report of the event in her local paper prior to the election, and also arranged the timing of her arrival and departure so she might avoid any direct confrontation or open Q&A session. Dorries is legendary in political circles for her pretences at engagement when in fact she shuns it, only engaging with people who do not confront her with difficult questions. After previous hustings, she knew she was on a sticky wicket and likely to face some difficult questions at the final hustings before the election. So did her constituents. It’s why they invited me to come and get the evening on record in the interests of democracy. But Nadine is so far gone; she sees this and any attempt to confront her about her ongoing lies as a personal attack and an affront to democracy.)

Knowing full well that my home address was being published alongside a false accusation that I had stalked her and others, Dorries sought to escape that situation by twice addressing a hall full of hundreds of people and accusing me of stalking Patrick Mercer, stalking Anne Milton “to the point that police became involved”, and stalking her to the point that a formal police investigation was underway.

Dorries then not only stood by that accusation knowing it to be entirely false, she went on to build on it, using the stabbing of the MP Stephen Timms to explain her decision to close her blog and Twitter account shortly after the election, with a direct and unmistakable insinuation that I presented an equal danger to her; this included a claim that she was advised by police in this context to cease any tweeting/blogging. It later emerged that Dorries had closed her blog and Twitter account a week before Timms was stabbed. Unless her recent self-diagnosis as a sufferer of “profound dyslexia” covers confusion about which way time flows, her claim that this event prompted her decision cannot be seen as anything but a calculated lie.

Andy Rayment, Chairman of the Mid Bedfordshire Conservative Association, responded to my concerns about Dorries’ repeated attempts to portray me as a mentally unbalanced stalker (including the evidence showing Dorries to be a liar) with a curt email in which he declared that he refused to communicate with “nutters”. Dorries then revealed any concerns she may have had about me being mentally unstable and potentially violent as a sham when she gleefully repeated this correspondence on her blog.

To be clear about the accusations that some journalists might be tempted to take at face value:

– There is no evidence of Patrick Mercer making any credible report to police about my stalking him. If he had, I would have been contacted by police a long time ago. It is standard procedure. (I know this from experience, and not in the way some would have you think. The people who have been involved in the worst of the harassment targeting me have so far escaped prosecution, but all of them have received unwanted attention from police as a result of my complaints.)

– The same applies to Iain Dale, who still refuses to discuss the circumstances in which he sought to exploit my being smeared as a paedophile, and actually seeks credit for not actually smearing me as a paedophile personally. (So *much* to be proud of, Iain!) He is now incensed that I may have to resort to civil action to have him issue a retraction of his repeated claims that I stalked him and others, even though he knows he cannot possibly substantiate his claims in criminal or civil court, or even in an open debate. Instead of taking the route he insists I should take with those harassing me (i.e. reporting them to police, as if I have not done so), Iain Dale has sought to address his claims that I harassed him with accusations made primarily behind the scenes, in what can only be described as a whispering campaign.

– In Anne Milton’s case, the only person who was investigated by police was a Conservative activist then working under her (and very closely with her), who sought to target a political opponent with an anonymous and entirely false claim that his opponent was… wait for it… a paedophile. Milton won’t like talking about that, but she cannot deny it, and she cannot deny knowing about it and the evidence of that man’s involvement before going on to endorse him as a candidate for local council. (She only ‘blanked’ him after he lost; what a lovely person. Yay, politics.) On that note, I should also point out that Anne Milton is also a (hopefully former) associate of Dominic Wightman’s (i.e. the man doing the key dirty work in this ongoing campaign of harassment against me). Milton denies saying anything to him or anyone else that might give them the idea that I was stalking her, but I can prove this to be a lie.

– Nadine Dorries cannot produce any evidence of a police investigation into my stalking her, as no such investigation took place. Through her supporters – mainly ‘Tory Bear’ – Dorries now presents my presence at that meeting (where she claimed I was under police investigation for stalking her) as the ONLY evidence of my stalking her. In any case, even if Dorries thinks she is telling the truth about some of her stalking claims (which we cannot discount, as she appears to be genuinely delusional on some points, not a claim I make lightly), the lies she told to constituents pre-date any of her cited or published concerns about stalkers.

To be clear on this point:

All of the events Nadine Dorries describes as ‘stalking’ took place after the lies she told constituents about the amount of time she spent in her constituency.

Further, she gave the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards an entirely different reason why she engaged in this deceit:

I often posted comments on my blog relating to [name of town] in my constituency. Since I first rented in the constituency, I made a song and dance about being at the property. I have mentioned it on my blog a number of times. This was done to comfort my Association. The previous MP only visited the constituency occasionally—sometimes only as often as once every six weeks—and they were keen that I reversed that impression. His lack of time in the constituency contributed to his de-selection. – Letter to the Commissioner from Ms Nadine Dorries MP, 25 January 2010

When Nadine Dorries claims or implies that she lied to her constituents about the amount of time she spent in her constituency only so far as to alter a few key dates and locations to throw stalkers off the scent… She. Is. Lying.

Nadine Dorries is lying because she has dug herself into a deep hole after a series of earlier lies, and she appears to have lied not only to her blog readers, constituents, and a series of journalists following this up, but also to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

I am willing to be interviewed about or challenged on any or all of this, and can produce evidence to back up everything I relate and describe, including the crime reference numbers relating to the two police investigations into this (ongoing) campaign of harassment against me, that recently got so ugly as to involve anonymous and entirely false accusations of criminal damage against my children.

If you press Dorries or Dale or Mercer or anyone else about this, they will refuse to talk to you or lie to you, but they will not be able to produce any evidence* to back up what they claim outside hearsay and opinion from their circle of deceit.

(How this works: Dorries claims I stalked her and points to what Iain Dale says as evidence. Iain Dale claims I am a stalker by pointing to what Nadine Dorries says as evidence. At one stage, Iain Dale even went so far as to declare that I only criticised Nadine Dorries as a way of getting at him. He even has the audacity to suggest that there is no smoke without fire when he knows damn well that he is the one generating the bulk of the smoke.)

Make no mistake; this is nothing more than a smear campaign involving people with aspirations of influence that far outweigh their integrity.

Calling the police and accusing someone of stalking does not make the subject of your claims guilty of stalking.

Hell, even Jenvey was calling police and accusing me of harassing him while he was publishing entirely false allegations about my being a paedophile.

Dorries is no better. She knowingly exploited a situation that put me and my family at significant risk and in considerable fear of danger, and heightened this with a damaging and self-serving lie about a police investigation that never took place.

And Nadine Dorries did this for no other reason than political gain; at best, to talk her way out of a corner.

I have never been approached by police about any complaint of harassment aimed at me, which is standard procedure for them following any credible complaint.

I have never been investigated for stalking or harassment or been issued with any kind of warning by police about my behaviour in this respect.

I have no criminal record for violent crime or any other kind of crime.

Nevertheless, I have been the target of entirely false allegations of stalking (and worse) made by people attempting to mask or excuse their lies and corruption.

Three of these people are Conservative MPs, and one of them is a member of Cameron’s cabinet.

If you’ve read this far, I’d like to ask you to do something about it by (a) writing about it, (b) getting the word out on Twitter, (c) filing a complaint with the Conservative Party, and/or (d) writing a letter to David Cameron at 10 Downing St.

Thanks for your time.

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[*As should be clear from an earlier passage, if Anne Milton is able to produce a crime reference number, it will not relate to an investigation of my conduct, but an investigation of the conduct of one of her activists. While it did not culminate in a prosecution, that investigation did NOT clear the relevant activist or his associate(s) of wrongdoing, despite what Anne Milton or Iain Dale may imply. I am in possession of that same crime reference number should Milton attempt denying any of this.]

Some questions for John Lyon, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

If we’re to believe Nadine Dorries’ local hokum (i.e. about 70% of her blog being fiction), when exactly did Nadine Dorries stop misleading her constituents about where she lived?

Nadine’s fictions regarding the amount of time she spent in her constituency took root in 2005, started in earnest in 2007, and culminated in this post on her not-really-a-blog on May 2009;

I spend more nights away from my constituency home than I spend in it and I use it for the purpose of my work. I do, however, retain the right to have my daughter, or daughter’s with me depending on who is with me at the time. It may only be a second home, however, it is a home… So, to my constituents and no one else, I am sorry. My crime is that I haven’t owned up to you that I don’t always live here… – Nadine Dorries, 16 May 2009;

An investigation into the expenses claims of Nadine Dorries followed. For the purposes of clearing her for many, many thousands of pounds on her constituency home as a second home, it was very important that she convince the Commissioner for Standards that she spent the majority of her time living away from her constituency home.

So why did Nadine Dorries claim that she lived mainly in her constituency home… on the ballot paper of the May 2010 election?

(Extract from) Mid Beds Statement of Nominations (.PDF)

extract from Mid Beds nomination form for ge2010

Why did she declare via the relevant nomination papers that she lived in the constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, almost a year after apologising for lying about living in the constituency of Mid Bedfordshire (for then undefined reasons of personal security)?

Taking Dorries at her word (steady, now) and assuming personal security to be the issue; ballot papers don’t show addresses any more if the candidate chooses to instead “state the constituency in which (their) home address is situated,” but Dorries chose this option and chose to state that she lived within the constituency.

How did this measure protect Nadine Dorries from the time-travelling stalkers? How is this anything other than a deliberate lie designed to give a false impression about where she lived for entirely political purposes?

Or is this perhaps a case of Nadine Dorries claiming that she lived away from the constituency right up until sometime after January 2010, and then suddenly having a change of heart and deciding she would be better off living mainly in her constituency from early 2010 (i.e. for the duration of the election campaign)?

In any case, when were the relevant nomination papers submitted?

Further, this information was brought to the attention of the office of the Standards Commissioner on May 19, 2010. Why is there no mention of Nadine Dorries being confronted with this in the relevant report (PDF)? Just the day before, the Commissioner had written to Nadine Dorries making it clear that he believed her current main home to be in Gloucestershire:

Secondly, I am grateful for your description of your current main home in [second village in Gloucestershire]…Letter to Ms Nadine Dorries MP from the Commissioner, 18 May 2010

And what is Commissioner John Lyon’s reaction to Nadine Dorries flipping the figures on her earlier assurance that 70% of her blog was fiction and 30% fact? If she now maintains that she meant the reverse all along (30% fiction and 70% fact), doesn’t this at least vastly alter the number of conflicting claims she can discount (i.e. about where she was and when)? Also, doesn’t this flipping of figures amount to a lie to the Commissioner? The report makes clear that she had ample opportunity to correct herself.

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UPDATE (25 Oct) – Over the weekend, Dorries revised her position yet again, and said; “I would also like to state that every word written on my blog is absolutely true.”

So she gets off the hook re: expenses by saying that what she published about staying in Woburn wasn’t true, and she now states that it was true. Surely this amounts to an admission that she lied to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

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UPDATE (25 Oct) – John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, will not comment on his report, or any submitted evidence contradicting it. He refuses to comment on evidence submitted during his investigation that contradicts his understanding of certain crucial matters as stated in the report, and he even refuses to comment on why it was not included in his report. I am now left with no option but to refer the matter to the Standards and Privileges Committee (a bunch of MPs) who are answerable only to the House (a bunch of MPs). Not liking my chances.

Nadine Dorries excuses her stupid lies with dangerous lies

This evening, the 6pm edition of Anglia Tonight carried the following report about the excuses Nadine Dorries gave for lying to her constituents. If you’re in a hurry, just click here to zip forward to the relevant quote (orig):

Ms. Dorries agreed to do an interview for us and was unable to make it for whatever reason, but (I spoke to her) on the phone and what she said was that, following the expenses scandal that we saw, she found herself at the centre of some rather unwanted attention from some rather unsavoury people – ‘stalkers’, she called them – to the extent that she had to report 4 people through the Metropolitan or Bedfordshire police and she said to me; “I’d be a pretty stupid MP after reporting a fourth stalker to the police if I then put down exactly where I was staying.” – Matthew Hudson, Anglia Tonight (21/10/2010)

So Dorries maintains that she told lies on her blog about where she was staying and when to throw stalkers of the scent, and began doing so when she attracted “unwanted attention” from “unsavoury people”… (important bit coming up) following the expenses scandal.

The expenses scandal began for Nadine Dorries with this report in the Telegraph on 15 May 2009.

And here are the dates of the blog entries mentioned in the Standards and Privileges Committee report (PDF) that she explains away as ‘fiction’:

– 15 May 2009
– 16 May 2009

Dorries apologised for misleading her constituents about where she lived in this entry on her not-really-a-blog on 16 May 2009.

Apparently, we’re supposed to believe that in one day – on 15 May 2009, to be precise – Nadine Dorries not only attracted four stalkers, but then made credible reports to police about all four of them (in London and Bedfordshire), then went on to receive advice from police that convinced her that she should publish largely fictional accounts on her blog about where she was living/staying, then did so, and then went on to apologise for doing so the very next day.

Sorry, but no.

At the time of the expenses scandal, I catalogued relevant entries on her blog that gave the very clear impression that she was living in her constituency, and the dates of key examples are included below:

“In my local last night with friends, The Black Horse in Woburn…” 10 April 2008

“Last night a true friend and neighbour took me for dinner at the Birch in Woburn…” 7 June 2008

“I got the papers at seven and read every one back to front. Sky sent a car for me and I read all the way from Woburn to Islington…” – 26 February 2007

Dorries was declaring her intention to move to Woburn as far back as 2005, and blogging as if she were residing mainly in her constituency from 2007.

Even if she were dealing with a stalker problem back in 2007 (care to revise your statement, Nadine?), those phantom stalkers of hers would still need a time machine to intercept her, because she was blogging her movements after the fact.

By the way, the Commissioner may not have seen the blog entries above, as they were removed while the Commissioner was trying to get a good look at them earlier this year:

In response to your first point on where you spent your weekends, I know that there have been a number of statements on your blog. The blog itself seems now to have been taken down. – Letter to Ms Nadine Dorries MP from the Commissioner, 8 July 2010

And who did Nadine Dorries blame publicly for the removal of her blog? Why, the stalkers, of course!

But the truth is that Dorries published the misleading content before any concerns she claims to have had about stalking. The relevant accusations of stalking, by the way, also involve several works of fiction, including an outright lie about my being investigated by police for stalking her (and other MPs) that she has yet to answer for. (Never mind 75%; what Dorries told a room full of people in May of this year was 100% fiction.)

By Dorries’ own account to the Commissioner, she deliberately gave a false impression of where she was staying for entirely political reasons (not including this belated attempt to blame the Telegraph, which itself raises time travel issues):

I often posted comments on my blog relating to [name of town] in my constituency. Since I first rented in the constituency, I made a song and dance about being at the property. I have mentioned it on my blog a number of times. This was done to comfort my Association. The previous MP only visited the constituency occasionally—sometimes only as often as once every six weeks—and they were keen that I reversed that impression. His lack of time in the constituency contributed to his de-selection. – Letter to the Commissioner from Ms Nadine Dorries MP, 25 January 2010

In the resulting report, the matter of why she lied about where she lived is reported as follows:

157. Some material on Ms Dorries’ weblog appears to suggest a pattern of use of her constituency property in some respects at variance with the evidence she has given, in that it implies she has a more permanent presence in the constituency. Ms Dorries’ evidence is that she gave prominence on the blog to her use of her constituency property both to comfort her constituency association and to demonstrate to her constituents the degree of her personal commitment to her Mid Bedfordshire constituency. Her evidence as to the reliance to be placed on material on her blog is that it is in fact 70% fiction and 30% fact, and relies heavily on poetic licence. She frequently replaces place-names, events and facts with others. She is conscious of the potential for political opponents to exploit her personal domestic circumstances. According to Ms Dorries, this, and the need to reassure her constituents of her commitment, was the reason behind the blog entries. It was also an attempt by her to retain some degree of a private life. – Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

Note that none of this mentions stalking in any way; false accusations of stalking are a very recent addition to Nadine’s growing catalogue of outright lies (more).

To close, here’s a little treat for the good people at Anglia Tonight:

Matthew Hudson was reporting live from outside Parliament just after 6pm. In this screen capture, you can even see the time on the clock tower behind him as he says; “Ms. Dorries agreed to do an interview for us and was unable to make it for whatever reason”

6:00pm

Now here’s a photo that Nadine Dorries tweeted at 6:20pm. It clearly shows the time it was taken – 6:18pm – because it is a picture of a clock tower… the same clock tower (for those who don’t recognise it):

6:18pm

Obviously Nadine Dorries had other places to be (if nothing better to do) at the time… while sitting about a block away.

That deserves another screen capture, IMO. I think this one will do nicely:

ORLY?

[Psst! Nadine Dorries! You are in a very deep hole. Even if you care nothing about the safety of my family, for the sake of your own career you really need to stop digging. You are not clever enough to tell convincing lies, and lies of this magnitude have a way of exploding in people's faces.]

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See also: Nadine Dorries is a corrupt liar

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UPDATE

Related post: Richard Bartholomew – The 70 Per Cent Solution: Who Are Nadine Dorries’ “Four Stalkers”?

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Nadine Dorries is a corrupt liar

As I originally blogged back in 2009, the primary issue with Nadine Dorries and her accommodation expenses claims was her changing her story mid-stream about where her second home was. Today we are assured by her closest political allies that she has been ‘completely cleared’ by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Iain Dale offers a typical example in that he relies entirely on a press release from Nadine Dorries, and does not even link to the relevant report, because he is ‘too busy’. Some cynics might dare to suggest that this is because the detail is damning.

Standards and Privileges Committee Report – Nadine Dorries (PDF)
[note: linking to this took less than 30 seconds]

Upon reading this report, one cannot escape the conclusion that Nadine Dorries has had to admit to being a liar in order to avoid a charge of monetary corruption.

Further, the evidence that ‘clears’ Dorries comes to us from that same liar.

It’s not too much detail (come on, Iain, you can do this), so let me walk you through the highlights with the promise of a comedy payoff:

1. Nadine Dorries had to explain the conflict between (a) her claim to the authorities/Commissioner that her constituency home was her second home, and (b) the many entries on her blog portraying her constituency home as her main home.

To do this, she had to say that he had lied her constituents on this point and many others, and the relevant passage includes a quote that is going to haunt Nadine Dorries for a long time to come:

My blog is 70% fiction and 30% fact. It is written as a tool to enable my constituents to know me better and to reassure them of my commitment to Mid Bedfordshire. I rely heavily on poetic licence and frequently replace one place name/event/fact with another. – Letter to the Commissioner from Ms Nadine Dorries MP, 1 March 2010

Basically, Dorries says she sought to reassure her constituents about her commitment to Mid Bedfordshire by knowingly misleading them about how much time she spent there. But Dorries even had the audacity to object to the Commissioner arriving at this same conclusion. She wanted this passage removed or amended:

167. Ms Dorries’ evidence to me was also inconsistent with statements she had previously made on her weblog and in the press, where she seemed to go out of her way to emphasise that she lived in the constituency… the weblog gave information to its readers, including Ms Dorries’ constituents and party supporters, which provided a misleading impression of her arrangements as the Member of Parliament for the constituency. – Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

This MP has repeatedly used her blog to attack her critics using accusations that are entirely reliant upon her statements; i.e. where the only evidence she presents is her account of what happened where and when… the same stuff she so breezily admits is “70% fiction and 30% fact”!

So when she attacks a constituent disabled by arthritis and maintains this person is faking it because she “stormed around the hall” (more), we now have to consider that the word ‘stormed’ may not be an accurate description, or even an honestly-held opinion, but instead the result of “poetic licence”.

2. Nadine Dorries had to account for testimony from neighbours that contradicted her account to the authorities/Commissioner (i.e. about the frequency of overnight stays at her constituency home).

Dorries complains bitterly about how long this investigation took, but one of the aspects that caused most of the delays was a series of attacks aimed at one of her neighbours that the Commissioner ruled to be irrelevant (and this is a move that’s going to seem grimly predictable to those who know how this MP operates):

170. My inquiries were also complicated and extended by Ms Dorries’ criticism of the one witness who gave evidence against her…. I regret the tone and intensity of some of Ms Dorries’ comments on the witness (not all of which I have included in the published evidence) and her attempts to persuade me not to consider that evidence… I do not believe it would have been just or fair to have taken the action suggested by Ms Dorries and refused to have accepted that neighbour’s evidence on account of the fact that he had discussed it with a newspaper reporter. – Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

Dorries said this evidence should have been rejected for another reason, too. Comedy payoff pending. Stand by.

3. Nadine Dorries had to provide evidence that she stayed more nights in what she described as her main home than she did in her constituency home.

This is the other part that caused the delay; there was (to put it kindly) some difficulty in extracting from this MP a consistent account of where she stayed most nights:

176. I am disappointed Ms Dorries took as long as she did in providing me with consistent evidence to enable me to resolve this complaint… – Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

It wasn’t until 25 January 2010 that Dorries provided evidence establishing that she had spent the majority of nights in what she claimed was her main home. I urge you to follow the source link on this one to check the back-and-forth detail and the account she finally settled on for yourself, but the most telling part of it appears to be this note, under the final revision:

Ms Dorries said that the revised information for 2008-09 had been based on “closer examination of my 08-09 diary” and that the figures for other years had been revised to include nights she had spent in London. – Nadine Dorries MP: Schedule of overnight stays from 1 February 2007 (Revised version)

The Green Book states quite clearly that “Claims must be supported by documentary evidence, except where the House has agreed that such evidence is not necessary.”

In this instance, the Committee and Commissioner have agreed that the account repeatedly revised account of a self-confessed liar will serve in place of documentary evidence.

Some might think that’s not good enough. Some might think that the Commissioner should at least think twice before accepting the word of a liar.

Comedy payoff time… Nadine Dorries agrees:

I am aware that it is impossible for you to reasonably believe [neighbour 1] and disregard the consistent information provided by others and you may think I am over reacting to the evidence sent by [neighbour 1], however, that is not the point. I strongly object to lies being given any consideration whatsoever. – Letter to the Commissioner from Ms Nadine Dorries MP, 6 July 2010

I take your point that his evidence will be balanced out against others, however, his evidence is a lie and I feel very, very strongly that a malicious person who has lied should [not] be given any consideration whatsoever. – Letter to the Commissioner from Ms Nadine Dorries MP, 27 July 2010

(I had to tie up the second botched sentence with a missing ‘not’, but her intended meaning is clear, and I do not think the correction is unfair or in error.)

Nadine Dorries, who admits to lying about where she stayed and when, does not think the testimony of a liar should be accepted by the Commissioner… who then clears her on the basis of her much-revised account of where she stayed and when.

Nadine Dorries is a corrupt liar. Let her sue me if she is to maintain otherwise.

Margaret Thatcher’s funeral

The 85th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s birth should serve as a reminder that some of her supporters are already planning for her death, and recently even floated the idea of a state funeral:

Daily Mail – Lady Thatcher to be honoured with State funeral
Guardian – State funeral planned for Lady Thatcher
Guardian – Harman: we have not agreed Thatcher state funeral
BBC – Thatcher state funeral undecided

We’ve had a change of government since then, and I’d like to ask if the proposal that we give Margaret Thatcher a state funeral is being seriously considered (or even quietly approved), especially in light of the savage and immediate cuts to expenditure the Tories insist are a necessary evil at this time.

I’m shooting myself in the foot here, as I did plan to sell DIY tap-shoe kits to the large crowds that would be sure to gather specifically to protest this expenditure, but I would also urge David Cameron and others to look at the logic of a privately-funded funeral:

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Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.

You may recall the fuss in the streets when George W. Bush invited himself to town and awarded himself the honour of a state visit, and no-one in Blair’s government dared to object.

Many of the people I spoke to at the relevant protests were angry about the illegal invasion of Iraq, but stated quite clearly that they mainly objected to Bush being honoured in ceremonies and events paid for out of the public purse. It wasn’t the entirety of their case by any means, but it was this aspect that greatly swelled the number of protestors then, and I firmly believe a similar objection to public money being spent will lead to large and ugly protests if Margaret Thatcher is awarded a state funeral.

This confrontation can be avoided simply by honouring Margaret Thatcher appropriately upon her passing (and when I say ‘appropriately’, I do not mean according to a leftist doctrine that exists mainly in the minds of paranoid right-wing pundits).

Where there is error, may we bring truth.

Thatcher’s clearly stated political philosophy involved reduced state interference and a spirit of entrepreneurialism enabled by a free market; marking her passing with a state funeral that is agreed or even discussed in principle before her death risks labelling her an opportunist (fairly or otherwise), and if Thatcher is a believer in the free market and her supporters agree, then surely the most fitting tribute to the woman is to make a show of numbers and support their argument with a privately-funded funeral.

Where there is doubt, may we bring faith.

I not only propose that we take Margaret Thatcher at her word and attempt to honour her political legacy appropriately, I further propose that we tie this in with David Cameron’s flagship initiative; Big Society

If we’re to have soldiers lining the streets, for example, then let’s see them do so of their own free will in their own free time. Similarly, a volunteer workforce can organise the event, marshal on the day, and clean up afterwards.

I acknowledge that in some areas there are limits to what private money can do, particularly when it comes to policing the event, and on that note…

And where there is despair, may we bring hope.

I understand that many people will never forgive Margaret Thatcher for her actions, but I would trust even these people agree that there’s little point in shouting at a passing coffin if the relevant ceremony isn’t costing them anything.

So in closing I propose that if the Tories do embrace this idea and agree to drastically minimise the cost to the public, then their opponents should do the same, and minimise the cost of policing the event by taking potential confrontation out of the equation.

Save your energy for a private party, because if the Tories agree not to be ultra-hypocrites about this, there’ll be a lot to celebrate.

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OK, I’ve presented my case. Does anyone have any objections that don’t involve merely shouting ‘leftist’ at me or accusing me of stalking a sweet old lady?

Nadine Dorries and the most pathetic hatchet job in political history

Yesterday, Nadine Dorries published a further attack on a constituent in an effort to justify her earlier attacks on that same constituent (more). A lot of what she publishes in response to this article in her local paper (while claiming her target is conning people) is wildly exaggerated or entirely false. The Credo covers two key claims here, and I’d like to cover a few myself, starting with this passage:

“Ms Cullen attended my local hustings. She stormed around the hall after me, shouted a great deal and even followed me outside, pacing up and down whilst I chatted to constituents. Odd that she has never mentioned once on twitter that she was the Labour party organiser. And believe me, she can walk pretty fast and shout very loud.” (Nadine Dorries)

As Nadine Dorries is aware, I recorded that hustings event on two cameras. Though I have only published ‘highlights’ from the main camera, one of those cameras caught her arrival, the other caught her departure, and the footage overlaps, so I have captured video and audio of every moment from her arrival to her departure.

I have now reviewed the footage, and it supports my recollection of the event:

Ms Cullen did not ‘storm’ after Dorries before or after the event, though I think what Dorries is referring to in this particular gross distortion is Ms Cullen following her outside (which I will get to in a moment). Nor did Ms Cullen ‘strut’ as Dorries claimed in an earlier post. These are exaggerations by Ms Dorries that prove nothing but her mind-boggling determination to portray Ms Cullen as a benefits cheat.

(Yes, Ms Cullen dared to walk, but this could best be described as an ‘amble’, and her ability to walk does nothing to disprove the condition of arthritis. All Dorries does here is stumble witlessly once again in the area that got her into so much trouble last week; not every disabled person is in a wheelchair.)

The only person at that meeting who could be described as a ‘shouter’ spoke in Dorries’ defence (it’s pronounced ‘Flit-ick’, children). Dorries cannot classify Ms Cushion as a shouter without calling herself one too… not that anyone’s capacity to shout is relevant beyond Ms Dorries’ attempts to portray Ms Cullen as aggressive.

Dorries claimed during that meeting (after she realised I was filming, of course) that she had to leave early at a certain time because of an unspecified event that took precedent over the final hustings before polling day. She ended up leaving some 10-15 minutes before even this predicted time, and yes, Ms Cullen followed Ms Dorries outside. Certainly not to berate her as she implies, but merely to observe. And what Ms Cullen (and others) observed was Nadine Dorries standing around and smoking when she had just moments earlier claimed that she had to leave because she was in a hurry to be somewhere else.

An Open Letter to Nadine Dorries

However, what I want to know as one of your constituents is why you advised everyone that you had to leave at 8.45 for an important meeting, actually left at 8.30. stood outside smoking for 15 minutes and then started tweeting within half an hour.

Perhaps the people Dorries was talking to while taking her dose of nicotine would care to step forward and support her claim that Ms Cullen was a restless, pacing beast at this time. (Not that this would prove anything of relevance; see above.)

“Labour party organiser” stretches the truth to breaking point and the truth of this matter is covered by The Credo.

I did not witness Ms Cullen walking “pretty fast” and footage of her walking shows a slow amble at best. The claim that she “stormed around the hall” after Dorries is pure invention.

There is far more about Dorries’ latest outburst that I know to be false if not misleading, but for now I leave you with the arrogance of this assertion:

“This is my last comment on this as I am sure the voters will have their say at the ballot box.” -(Nadine Dorries)

If you’re feeling lost for words at that, you’re not alone, but it’s worse than you think; Dorries has opted out of the WriteToThem service and will now only respond to “constituents requesting advice or representation” by snail mail.

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UPDATE (13 Oct) – A dignified response from the victim of Dorries’ mudslinging.

News of the World vs. Big Society: snakes in the grass

Watching Channel 4′s excellent documentary Tabloids, Tories and Telephone Hacking I was struck by the bravery of the victim of sexual assault who spoke out, especially in comparison to the majority of ‘journalists’ who worked under Andy Coulson and/or alongside Clive Goodman at News of the World (i.e. people who claim their life’s mission is to root out and report corruption).

I was also greatly amused to watch the footage of Coulson being confronted by the Culture Select Committee with a hard copy of the Goodman article that did him in (the bottom item in the scan below); this was a news gossip item that alerted the royals to the phone hacking that led to a police investigation, a conviction, and Coulson’s resignation (link), but Coulson looked at it as if he’d only just then laid eyes on it.

As you can see from the scan, Goodman drapes himself in the name of a familiar fictional character and casts himself as an anti-establishment warrior fighting for the rights of the common man. Moving quickly on from the shtick of this corrupt liar and how familiar it seems, I would like you to note that Andy Coulson portrays this man as a rotten apple in barrel, while Goodman seems/seemed to think of himself as more of a snake in the grass.

(There’s a clever sentence about apples and snakes that eludes me here; perhaps the accomplished writer and biblical scholar Nadine Dorries would care to tackle it.)

Yesterday, I did some research in the British Newspaper Library in Colindale, in an effort to (at least) familiarise myself with Goodman’s NOtW contemporaries from the period preceding/surrounding the act that led to his downfall.

What appears below is a list of ‘journalists’ who rated a byline mention in News of the World in 2005. I’ll refrain from highlighting any names that already stand out for me (it wouldn’t be at all fair in a post like this), but I will tell you that this list may contain the name of the individual who had an actor portray them in Tabloids, Tories and Telephone Hacking, and it may also contain the names of several people who are busy avoiding any mention of the matter at all, possibly because they still work for News International and/or fear having their lives ruined by the type of people who smear those who dare to expose their corruption.

Rather than waiting for newspapers, TV or (Dog forbid) the police to do something about this, I propose that we ‘Big Society’ this project and beat the grass with sticks ourselves, to see how (m)any remaining snakes react.

The way I picture it, any blogger with an interest in truth in media can pick a name (at random, if you want to try to be as fair as possible), find out what that person has been up to lately (starting with Wikipedia, Journalisted, etc.), source the relevant contact details in the process, approach that person for comment, then blog the details.

At the very least, we should end up with a pretty comprehensive list of people who would rather stay hidden in the grass for one reason or another.

Clive Goodman Blackadder Nov 13 2005 - Partial scan

List of News of the World ‘journalists’ granted a byline in 2005

(NOTE – People known to be still working for NOTW at the time of writing are highlighted in bold. Names preceded by an [e] have been emailed – or in some cases tweeted – with a request that they comment on this matter. Obviously those still working for NOTW or another News International newspaper are unlikely to comment, but there are Is to be dotted and Ts to be crossed.)

[e] Phil Taylor – ‘associate editor’
[e] Neville Thurlbeck – ‘chief reporter’ [response: no comment]
[e] Ian Kirby – ‘political editor’ [response: no comment]
[e] Keith Gladdis - ‘deputy politicial editor’/'whitehall editor’ [response: no comment]
[e] Mark Bolland – (former editor of ‘Blackadder’… and former director of the PCC) [response: no comment]
Clive Goodman – ‘royal editor’ [done]
[e] Ryan Sabey – ‘royal reporter’ (Now working for The Sun) [response: no comment]
Mahzer Mahmood – ‘investigations editor’
[e] Martin Samuel – ‘chief sports writer’
[e] Rachel Richardson – ‘tv editor’ [response: no comment]

Alice Walker
[e] Amanda Evans [response: no comment]
[e] Andrea Vance [response: no comment]
Carl Fellstrom [Has blogged about it here. And good on him.]
Carole Aye Maung
[e] Chris Buckland (Now working for The Sun) [response: no comment]
Chris Tate
[e] Dan Evans (currently “suspended from reporting duties” following a complaint by a female television personality that her voicemail was intercepted this year- source)
[e] Danny Buckland
David Martyn
David McGee
David O’Dornan
[e] Dominic Herbert [response: no comment]
Edward Trevor
Frank Thorne (Sydney-based correspondent)
Gemma Calvert
Gemma Pearse
Georgina Dickinson
Gerard Couzens
Haili McHugh
Hayley Barlow
Holly Jarvis
James Desborough
James Hill
James Millbank
James Orr
Jane Atkinson
Jon Higginson
Lester Middlehurst
Lewis Panther
Lucy Laing
Lucy Panton
Mark Christy
Martin Breen
Matt Slater
Matthew Acton
Mike Hamilton
Mike Merrit
Nadia Cohen
Neil McLeod
Neil Syson
Paul Kennedy
Phil Cardy
Polly Graham
Primrose Skelton
Rachel Spencer
Rav Singh
Rob Beasley
Robbie Collin
Robert Kellaway
Ross Hindley
Ruth Skelton
Sara Nuwar
Sarah Arnold
Sharon Feinstein
Simon Freeman
Sonny Soper
Stella White
Stian Alexander
Stuart Kuttner
Sue McGibbon
Tim Wood
Tom Worden
Vanessa Altin
Vaz Sayed
Wayne Francis
Will Stewart
Zak Newland

MINI-UPDATE – I have added here the names of two three News of the World executives who were active at the time:

Ross Hall
Alex Marunchak (this article from 2002 will raise an eyebrow)
Greg Miskew (Miskew left in July 2005, but it is alleged he signed a contract with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire)

(Those with certain prominence and/or billed with a title in print in 2005 head the list, but other than that, the order is strictly alphabetical by first name. This is not a complete list, and it may grow; samples were taken from the main part of the paper in early, mid and later months of 2005. Some pseudonyms and/or nameless drones may be involved. Other people were afforded bylines at the time, but they are not in this list because they wrote opinion pieces and/or were unlikely to be based in the main office; e.g. Lord Stevens, William Hague, Tony Blair, Al Murray, the lovely Ulrika, and Mystic Meg… who we can only assume failed to see this coming.)

So, there’s your list. Many of these people worked alongside Clive Goodman in the months leading up to the event that led to his arrest, and may or may not have something to say about their recollection of events and/or the culture in the newsroom under Andy Coulson.

If you plan on starting on a name or two, do drop me a line privately, leave a comment, or ping me on Twitter (hashtag is #snakelist); I’ll probably start marking names as ‘taken’ and/or ‘done’ once we get rolling, or I may choose to leave the list unmarked to keep the drones guessing. Let’s see how we get on.

NAD-LIBS are back!

NAD-LIBS work just like Mad-Libs, only they focus on the adventures of everyone’s favourite Conservative MP, Nadine Dorries. (It’s hard to think of a more fitting tribute, given her tendency to imagine or invent stuff that happens to her, often at random, if not according to her specific publicity needs at the time.)

nadlibs

Because the game is designed to be played in real life (with real people), NAD-LIBS work best when there his high Nad-awareness (as there is this week, following Nadine’s attack on a constituent who had the temerity to complain about her conduct that has the disabled community and their supporters up in arms).

This week there is such a high level of Nad-awareness that I’ve written not one, but two extra NAD-LIBS, bringing the current collection up to 4 sheets of recyclable* mirth.

Here are the story-sheets that are available so far. Simply click on the version you would like to play, print it onto an A4 sheet of dead tree, grab a writing implement, and then find someone to play with:

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NAD-LIBS: Sheet# 1 – Nadine Dorries wins the day [DOWNLOAD]

NAD-LIBS: Sheet# 2 – Nadine Dorries claims sexual harassment [DOWNLOAD]

NAD-LIBS: Sheet# 3 – Nadine Dorries comes a cropper [DOWNLOAD]

NAD-LIBS: Sheet# 4 – Nadine Dorries apologises [DOWNLOAD]

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The BIG HINTS for playing this game successfully include:
a) never try to play online, because it rarely works as well as it does ‘live’
b) choose an audience that’s at least dimly aware of our dimmest MP
c) alternatively, just find some children (or some people who think like children)
d) let your audience know when you are halfway through the sheet, and nearing the end (this builds tension)
e) do not show or share any of the story to your audience until it is finished
f) when repeating any of the results online, please make sure you specifically point out that you are publishing the output of a NAD-LIBS game, or not-very-good lawyer Donal Blaney might serve you with a ‘writ’ or some other form of quasi-legal document written in official blue crayon.

REMEMBER: This game only comes to life when you print out a sheet or two and play it with friends. You are only expected to play it alone at home (possibly while sitting in a dark cupboard) if you are a disabled person sponging off the taxpayer.

[*Hint: if you fill the sheet(s) in with pencil, you can play the game once, have a few laughs, erase the old words and play the game all over again.]

Andy Rayment replies at last

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.