Ghosts of Slough
- 18 Mar 08, 06:58 PM
Whilst my fellow political journalists all flocked to Ken Livingstone鈥檚 campaign launch in London, I took the train to Slough for a far more interesting story, largely ignored by the Westminster pack, and which I therefore had almost to myself.
There was much jubilation in the Slough Labour Party after an election court disqualified a local Conservative councillor, , for corrupt and fraudulent election practices.
Mr Khan was found to have secured his election last May by registering at various properties around his ward more than a hundred 鈥済host鈥 voters 鈥 people who didn鈥檛 exist or weren鈥檛 entitled to be on the voting register - and who then, of course, voted for him.
Criminal trial
Khan was also accused by the judge Richard Mawry of perverting the course of justice by getting several witnesses to commit what the judge called 鈥渂latant鈥 and 鈥渂are-faced perjury鈥 during the recent election court case to try and save his skin.
A criminal trial now looks likely. Three men have already been arrested and police inquiries are continuing.
The judge also awarded costs against Khan. The Conservative Party won鈥檛 say if they鈥檝e agreed to pay them - which strongly suggests to me that they have. Lord Ashcroft may race a total bill of around 拢500,000 for the party.
Richard Mawry鈥檚 judgement may be great news for Labour in Slough, but it will be less welcome to Labour nationally.
Mawry, you may recall, was the judge who presided over the Birmingham election fraud case in the spring of 2005, when he compared Birmingham to a banana republic and was scathing about this government鈥檚 introduction of postal voting on demand.
'Disastrous experiment'
After that notorious case ministers tried to tighten the rules on postal votes, but Mawry claimed today that these changes had made little difference and that voting fraud was an easy as ever. Indeed, if anything, Mawry鈥檚 judgement today was more scathing of government policy than it was in Birmingham three years ago.
The problem, he said, was not just the 鈥渄isastrous experiment of postal voting on demand鈥, but the extremely lax system of electoral registration in this country.
鈥淕reat Britain鈥檚 system of voter registration may well have been a quaint but harmless anomaly while personal voting was the norm but the introduction of postal voting on demand has made it lethal to the democratic process.鈥
Roll-stuffing, as the Australians call it, 鈥渋s childishly simple to commit,鈥 said Mawry, 鈥渁nd very difficult to detect.
'Decent choice'
To ignore the possibility that it is widespread, particularly in local elections, is a policy that an ostrich would despise.鈥
Above all, he criticised the belief by many Labour people that making it easier for people to vote, though postal ballots, would boost voting turn-out.
What really boost turn-out, he argued, was giving voters a decent choice. He pointed to the 85% turnout in last year鈥檚 French presidential election (where there鈥檚 no easy postal voting) as a good example of this and concluded: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not how you vote that brings out the voters. It鈥檚 the choices you are given.鈥
In speaking out so boldly, Richard Mawry is surely becoming something of a pain in the neck for this government, rather like Elizabeth Filkin and Sir Alistair Graham.
But he should be careful. They both lost their jobs.
The US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has admitted the American economy is facing a "sharp decline" and economists are forecasting the fifth US interest rate cut today since the credit crunch began. US house prices have fallen for the first time since the 1930s; can we now avoid another Great Depression? Hugh Pym has been investigating how central bankers are trying to learn the lessons of history.