Miranda Grell was yesterday found guilty under the Representation of Peoples Act 1983 of making false statements about a candidate. Part of the allegations were that, during the 2006 local council elections, Ms Grell, a Labour candidate, went around telling people that the LibDem candidate was a paedophile.
She had denied the charges, and for some reason, I believed her. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the case, so let’s see if she appeals.
On the other hand, I suppose this case shows us (as if we needed telling) that this business of smearing opponents occurs in all political parties. To hear some Labour activists tell it, the Conservatives and LibDems are ravenous wolves, while they (the poor Labour men and women) are the meekest of lambs.
I hear Ms Grell has been suspended by the Labour Party. If this is true, then I am mystified. The Labour Party in government has conducted itself with the three-pronged spear of smear, spin and slander (remember, for example, Rose Addis, David Kelly and Demetrious Panton). For the party now to turn around and cast into outer darkness the daughter whom they raised in their own likeness, I find truly mystifying.
In any case, surely the punishment from the court is more than enough? She has been fined and banned from public office for three years, not to mention the loss of her good name. I can understand the need for a political party to want to distance itself from someone who has been found guilty of such an offence, but are we to believe, if Ms Grell did smear her opponent, that she did so without being reported to local party activists? Or did she do so, knowing that such tactics, while not encouraged by her local party, would not also be expressly discouraged? Either way, for good or bad, she worked for her party. Even if she has done wrong, it would still be good to see her party reach out, take her back under its wing, and help her back onto her feet. She is a young woman who has made mistakes, some of which she admitted to during the court hearing. While I am not expecting the Labour Party to praise her for her conduct, it would be good to see someone reach out to the prodigal daughter and help her rebuild her life and her political career.
Why am I being sympathetic to Miranda Grell? To be honest, I don’t know. I asked myself if I would be so sympathetic to Andrew Pelling, the Conservative MP, if he were later to be found guilty of assaulting his wife. Probably not.
Maybe I am sympathetic to Miranda Grell because I feel that she is a victim of the poisoned political atmosphere in which she came of age. An atmosphere in which lies are of equal validity with the truth, and where the only thing that matters is achieving one’s political objective. For if you believe that your political philosophy is right, why let a little thing like morality get in the way? If you believe that a Labour victory is the best thing for the country (and you believe that earnestly), you may well conclude that whatever you do to achieve it is morally just, as you are after all working ‘for a good cause’. I have no idea if these thoughts went through Ms Grell’s mind. All I know is that this state of affairs has persisted for some time, one in which common decency and morality are disregarded in pursuit of what politicians (particularly on the left) regard as the ‘greater good’. If Miranda Grell has fallen into that trap, it is something I can understand, even if not condone. Perhaps that is at the root of my sympathy for her.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I cannot feel sorry for her, as to accuse someone of such a dreadful crime is beyond the pale unless you can prove it. But I agree this kind of smearing happens in all parties - which doesn’t say much for politics, does it?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Hi Welshcakes,
you are right - it is important to remember that someone (the LibDem councillor) suffered as a result of what happened.
Yes, politics certainly has a way of bringing out the worst in folk.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
When I was growing up, I was inspired by the likes of RFK and MLK. I thought politics was honourable and that it was about “helping people”.
As I’ve now been around the track a few times, I regret that I’ve found politics, particularly at the local government level, has more in common with the George Galloways of this world that the RFKs or MLKs.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
It was not just the Lib Dem candidate who suffered - though he was placed at serious risk of violence and had a very difficult time of it indeed - he was still canvassing blissfully unaware of the smears that he was a paedophile were doing the rounds. This was not going on in the civilized leafy shires - it was in one of the tougher parts of a tough borough in East London. He found himself publically spat at and threatened. Other people also suffered - the candidate’s partner, and all those people who were induced to vote for a liar, in effect being defrauded out of their votes.
September 29th, 2007 at 1:26 am
[…] Together with the recent television phone-in scandals, there seems to be something interesting happening to our morals as a society. It would appear that it is no longer important to get the facts right, so long as the bigger ’story’ or narrative, is in place. (I touched on this last week in my post about Miranda Grell.) […]