JohnBM:Liberal

Chris McCafferty, Labour MP for the Calder Valley has defended using her expenses to pay the leader of the Calderdale Council Labour group, Tim Swift £5000 a year in consultancy fees.

Calder Valley MP Mrs McCafferty has defended the payments, which ended last year.

She said: “MPs need help to do their work and I chose Tim as my consultant, which I am perfectly entitled to do. He was my agent, for which he did not get paid, he has helped to prepare my annual report, write Press releases, laid out leaflets and carried out research.

“I could have employed someone else but I wanted the best person for the job.”

Source: Halifax Courier (My highlighting)

A few unanswered questions here:

1. Was the consultancy post in lieu of being an unpaid election agent – if so, was it recorded in her election expenses?
2. Did Cllr. Swift register this work with the Register of Member’s Interests at Calderdale Council?
3. Did Cllr. Swift register with the inland revenue as a soletrader for tax purposes?
4. Was the leader of the Calderdale Labour group laying out leaflets, writing press releases and carrying out research from a political viewpoint (Labour) rather than a parliamentary (Chris McCafferty) viewpoint? Should this be paid for by the taxpayer?
5. Wouldn’t it be better for the public purse for Chris McCafferty to pay an intern or junior MP wannabe for doing this kind of work?
6. Doesn’t the leader of Labour Group on Calderdale have more pressing things to be doing than writing press releases for the local MP?

The Tories are famous in Calderdale for using Ashcroft monies (£25,000 in 2007) for political campaigning but at least it isn’t taxpayer’s money.

Questions are being asked by some members of the Calder Valley Labour Party over the selection of Cherie Blair’s stepmother, Stephanie Booth, as their parliamentary candidate.

In an article in the Yorkshire Post members of the Calder branch of the Labour Party are alleging postal voting irregularities including that Mrs. Booth’s supporters directly helped party members to fill in their postal voting papers.

Of the votes 95 cast for Mrs. Booth in the selection, 73 were postal votes.

Of the 52 votes cast for Cllr. Susan Press, 17 were postal votes.

The other votes were made in person at the hustings on April 9th.

Effectively; the selection of Steph Booth was a done deal before the hustings began.

It could be that Mrs. Booth fought a better all-round campaign or, as suggested by some local Labour Party members, it could be a little more sinister.

This latest episode comes on the back of the Labour Party NEC’s ousting of the previous Labour candidate, Janet Oosthuysen, for receiving a police caution for scratching an ex-partner’s car. Janet narrowly beat Steph Booth by a handful of votes last July.

This could well be a space that needs to be watched.

Last night the Calder Valley Labour Party selected Stephanie Booth to represent the party at the next General Election. Steph Booth beat local Hebden Royd Mayor, Susan Press, by 95 votes to 52.

This is second time lucky for Mrs. Booth having been previously beaten for the PPC by local town councillor Janet Oosthuysen by just five votes.

Janet went on to be vetoed by the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee in January following revelations that she had received a police caution for damaging her ex-partner’s car.

It is widely rumoured and believed in the Calder Valley that close supporters of Steph Booth briefed the press with these and other revelations in what was ultimately a successful attempt to unseat Janet and install Mrs. Booth.

It looks like the Steph Booth faction got their way in the end but will the Labour Party unite behind Steph Booth – We’ll see!!!

Hat tip to the fallen (this blog also makes interesting reading for a view of internal machinations of the Labour Party): http://grimmerupnorth.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-lost.html