I am grateful for the co-operation of Ms Clarke in the writing of this article
A long and completely unnecessary ordeal came to an end yesterday at Cardiff Crown Court for Jenny Lee Clarke, who had been accused of theft by Swansea East Labour MP Carolyn Harris. I have reported on this case more than once over recent years, but for latecomers to the story, here’s the background.
Before the 2015 UK general election both Carolyn Harris and Jenny Lee Clarke worked for the Swansea East Labour MP Siân James. Some time in November 2014 Harris humiliated Ms Clarke over her “dyke boots” before attacking her and pulling out clumps of hair. This being just another – if perhaps the worst – in a series of incidents of Harris seeking to insult and humiliate Clarke over her sexuality.
We have evidence for this behaviour in the fact that Siân James MP spoke to Harris, warning her about making homophobic remarks.
Witnesses to the attack included Labour councillor Paulette Smith (Clydach), who gave evidence at the trial.
Harris asked Clarke to forgive her and perhaps in the hope of confirming her remorse made Clarke her office manager after she became the new MP for Swansea East in May 2015. The rapprochement didn’t last long. Following a grievance raised on January 15 and ignored, and then eight hours spent giving a statement to the police on January 27, Clarke was sacked on January 28.
Her replacement is alleged to have found evidence that Ms Clarke had given herself an unauthorised pay rise and also shortened her working week by forging Carolyn Harris’ signature on a form to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). This was the charge against Jenny Lee Clarke.
Clarke insisted this had been done on the instructions of the new MP, arguing that “She (Harris) never liked paperwork. She left me to do everything.” As for the form ‘discovered’ by the new office manager, Clarke is adamant, “I didn’t sign it – I just wrote her name. Many letters and other forms have my writing on them – I have never attempted to write her signature, not at all.”
Interesting in this context is a document Jenny Lee Clarke compiled from her diary and from where we learn that as early as 2013 Carolyn Harris seems to have bullied her way into control of Siân James’ office, and by April 2014 we can see that Ms Clarke was not happy with being told by Harris to deal with IPSA.
12.04.12 – C.H demanding I do IPSA……..the rates were paid £1693. L.B £862.50. Reconciled Barclay Card
May 2012 – completing database of IPSA claims
06.01.14 – Was going to speak to C.H regarding I.P.S.A I wasn’t comfortable!
(The ‘L.B.’ referred to is Lawrence Bailey, former Swansea mayor and porn addict, PR advisor to Carolyn Harris , and of course columnist for the pro-Labour – to the point of being swivel eyed – Evening Post.)
Ms Clarke informs me she will be contacting IPSA asking that body to re-open its investigation into certain cash withdrawals made by Harris.
Understandably angry with the way she had been treated over many years, culminating now in her dismissal, Jenny Lee Clarke went to the media with the story of the assault she had suffered in November 2014. Most ‘papers went with it. Here are reports from the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sun, and Pink News.
The story was also covered in Wales, but with an interesting twist. A day later than the London ‘papers WalesOnline ran the story, but now the emphasis had shifted – it was no longer a homophobic attack but a case of fraud. With Carolyn Harris (or the public purse) now the victim.
Which is when it gets a bit curious, and rather disturbing. Martin Shipton told us that police are ‘probing’ the office manager Jenny Lee Clarke, but where did he get that information, and should he have used it in such a blatant attempt to save face for Carolyn Harris, and the Labour Party?
Whatever the source of Shipton’s information, his report was the first Ms Clarke knew of any investigation. Is that any way to find out that the police might soon be knocking on your door? Four months eventually passed before Ms Clarke was arrested on 24 July. Charges were not laid until October.
Yet Gypsy Rose Shipton knows all!
Then followed a series of delays as the case was put off time after time until it eventually came to trial in July 2018. Should it ever have taken so long? Was there interference from the South Wales Police PCC, the former Labour MP, Alun Michael, in this very political prosecution?
Come to that, did Michael have a hand in deciding that Clarke’s complaint of January 2016 was classed as common assault, and therefore – due to the fact that the complaint was made more than six months after the alleged offence of November 2014 – could not be proceeded with? A different offence, with a longer expiry period, could have resulted in Harris being prosecuted.
Though given that the offence being complained of was a homophobic assault, and therefore clearly a hate crime, why didn’t South Wales Police arrest and charge Carolyn Harris?
While Jenny Lee Clarke was sinking into depression, not knowing whether she might end up in prison for a crime she hadn’t committed, the MP for Swansea East was busy preparing for the trial by ingratiating herself with the Gay community.
Now the obvious question is – how many such events did Carolyn Harris attend before she was outed as a homophobe in the London newspapers? Ms Clarke tells me that she cannot recall Harris taking anything other than a hostile interest in Gay matters before the prospect of a trial loomed.
I suppose we could give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that Harris’s persistent and very public homophobic rants were some kind of defence mechanism, her desperately holding the closet doors shut. With the mauling she received at the hands of the London prints triggering the burst of emotional energy that allowed her to emerge.
An alternative, and less charitable view, might be that she’s another scheming politician who went through the motions of befriending gays and others because she thought it would come in useful when she had her moment in the witness box. ‘Homophobic! Moi?’
I understand Jenny Lee Clarke is considering suing Carolyn Harris for unfair dismissal, sexual discrimination and a few other relevant charges. I wonder if Mrs Harris’s new Gay friends will rally to her defence?
If I was Ms Clarke I would also lay a complaint against the police for not properly categorising the offence so clearly described to them in eight hours of questioning at Swansea Central police station on January 27, 2016.
There are just so many questions needing answers. Here are just a few:
- Where, how and with whom did the decision to accuse Jenny Lee Clarke begin? (And I mean accuse, not prosecute.)
- Will there now be an investigation into whether Carolyn Harris or anyone else knowingly made false accusations?
- Should IPSA – and perhaps the police – investigate how Carolyn Harris organises her office and her staff, to establish if she delegates work in ways that make her staff – on her instructions – break the law, or House of Commons rules?
- After her complaint made on January 27, 2016, why did South Wales Police not pursue what was clearly a hate crime?
- Will Jenny Lee Clarke receive an apology from South Wales Police for putting her through the wringer for over two years for what was clearly an accusation motivated by the desire for revenge?
- Will Jenny Lee Clarke receive an apology from the Labour Party?
- Did the trade union Unite properly advise Ms Clarke during the period of her dismissal? What Ms Clarke described to me as “shit representation”. Might Unite have been more concerned with protecting the reputation of a Labour MP and the wider party?
- Will anyone compensate Jenny Lee Clarke for what she’s endured?
- Will Martin Shipton of Labour-supporting Reach (formerly Trinity Mirror) tell us how he learnt that Jenny Lee Clarke was being investigated before she herself knew?
- Jenny Lee Clarke lives in the Gower constituency. Will her MP Tonia Antoniazzi stand up for her constituent and condemn the disgraceful treatment Ms Clarke has received over the past two years?
- Is Carolyn Harris’ position as Corbyn’s spokesperson for women and equalities any longer tenable?
- Is Carolyn Harris’ position as deputy leader of the Labour Party in Wales any longer tenable?
- Can Carolyn Harris remain MP for Swansea East?
STOP PRESS! I hear that back in the city of my dreams the book is open on Carolyn Harris’s successor. Front runners are:
Nicola Louise Edwards, 31, who failed to get elected for the Gowerton ward last year but is said to be fiercely ambitious. Being the grand-daughter of the formidable Lillian Hopkins, and daughter of current councillor Dai Hopkins (Townhill), she is not without influence in the now smoke-free rooms.
Also mentioned is council leader Rob Stewart. As it was put to me, “He’s got no job, lives on his own, so why not”. Call me picky, but I might demand better qualifications from my tribune. But then, this is Labour, and this is Swansea East . . . currently represented by Carolyn Harris. What more need I say?
The rank outsider is former Llansamlet ward councillor, former Sunderland North MP, Hero of the Revolution, Bob Clay. During his brief sojourn in Swansea he drew up plans to remove Harris but now faces expulsion himself. Given his vieux compagnon closeness to Corbyn he might yet gallop over the Briton Ferry Bridge at the head of his Trotskyite legion to scatter the hated Harrisites. (Unless the bridge is closed to traffic, as is so often the case.)
Then again, there are widespread fears that Carolyn Harris will take some shifting. Which I can well believe.
◊
The real issue here, as with so many of the other problems in Wales today, is the Labour Party. The old, decrepit and corrupt Labour Party.
Reminiscent of some mangy old predator that can still stand upright and make a bit of noise but is no longer able to fend for itself, surviving only due to the weakness of rivals and their inhibiting memories of the fearsome beast it once was.
But now, as the end approaches, the truth can no longer be hidden. Labour is finished.
This episode is just another footnote to the volume that lists corruption financial and moral, careerism, cronyism, refusal to serve the Welsh national interest, turning Wales into the pauper of Europe, willing participation in the Britification agenda, mismanagement of public funds including the inability to recognise a shyster when he approaches with a flashing neon sign on his head saying – ‘SHYSTER!’
It’s time to put the old beast out of its misery; and with it the fleas, parasites and bloodsuckers that compound and exacerbate its decline and our misery. For it no longer has the power nor the will to serve Wales. We’d be better off without it. As in the wild, he will soon be replaced and forgotten.
P.S. At the time of publication the only article on the WalesOnline website – and in the Western Mail – is the same PA report by Rod Minchin that appeared on the BBC Wales website and elsewhere. No doubt something more forensic and informative by Gypsy Rose Shipton will eventually appear.
♦ end ♦
UPDATE 02.08.2018: There has been no official response from the Labour Party in Wales, there’s certainly nothing on the party’s woefully neglected and rarely updated website. All I’ve been able to find was in a piece in today’s Llais y Sais by Martin Shipton after he’d asked for a comment. It reads:
“We were told (by ‘Welsh’ Labour) there had already been a full and thorough investigation into the allegations against Mrs Harris, that the jury’s verdict was not a verdict or a comment on the veracity of the allegations made during the course of the case, and that Mr (Carwyn) Jones has full confidence in Mrs Harris as his deputy leader”.
What the hell does that mean? They still believe that Carolyn Harris didn’t mount a homophobic attack on Jenny Lee Clarke? And that’s it? A woman has been acquitted by a jury – in just 90 minutes! – of very serious charges made against her by a senior Labour politician. Suggesting that that politician was lying and trying secure the conviction of an innocent woman.
But instead of dealing with the trial and its implications, ‘Welsh’ Labour prefers to focus on an incident that may or may not have happened but is materially unconnected with the trial and the accusations made against Jenny Lee Clarke.
‘Bad news – what bad news?’
I’m alright Jac…thanks for your concern.I hope you are well.
It’s all about breaking the politically correct bull shit down……
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3554432/Was-it-jokes-that-defeated-Communism.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9myHhpS9s
God may have created humour on the eighth day (and apparently it is good for you!)…….
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2932988/
I’m going to start writing a short story about a dystopia set in Sweden…..actually I started it last night!.. Only humour will get me to the end.
Keep up the good work……..you are a legend in the world of Welsh investigative journalism.
“The world of Welsh investigative journalism” is a very lonely place.
NEWYDDION TORRI!!! …. NEWYDDION TORRI!!! …….NEWYDDION TORRI!!!
There are unconfirmed reports that Mavis Winkledale, the editor of Wolverhampton Letterbox and Stamp Collectors Monthly has written to the Prime Minister in Westminster. Mrs Winkledale has complained that Boris comparing letter boxes to burqas is unaccecptable and argued he should be prosecuted for a “hate crime” against letter boxes. Mrs Winkledale a political correctness expert and activist said: Letter boxes represent our Englishness and traditions. If we let this go, where will the country end up? Mrs Winkledale has vented her disgust on several social media sites and is intending to form a Facebook site regarding the issue.
https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/08/blasphemy-may-demand-boris-sorry-for-burqa-letter-box-comment-reported-to-police/
I worry about you.
I have tried to comment on Walesonline but every time I go to the website it crashes so I looked and found this site which appears to be attracting quite a bit of interest regarding the ‘wonderful’ ‘all inclusive’ Carolyn Harris, the ‘friend’ of the LGBT community. So, this ‘inspirational’ MP is doing wonders and crapping miracles if you swallow the tripe that is written about her. Nothing could be further from the truth. This lying, hypocrite of a bully has wormed her way up a camel’s arse in attempts to bathe in the glow of any positive publicity, hence she is so ‘active’ within the LGBT community. Yeah right! She is such a positive example to us all that when she actually finds herself working with a gay person, she goes out of her way to ‘out’ that person and not only that, she physically assaults her and then tries to frame her for fraud. What a disgusting excuse for an MP ~ my MP. She should be deselected and prosecuted for assault.
The Labour Party and its representatives can get away with anything in Wales because what media we have is afraid of upsetting the source of so much of its news and its funding.
Cocked my emoji right up! 😉
Seriously though…….this PC nonsense has definitely entered the realm of “Carry On”. (Not that Carrie On is complaining) 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFTUG6z-9-4
I can envisage Carry on Cymru…….a movent questioning the ethics of Politically Correct speech.
Isn’t it stange though, that the British government has taken up Soviet style brainwashing!
“The term “politically correct” was coined in the late 1920s by the Soviets and their ideological allies around the world to describe why the views of certain of the party faithful needed correction to the party line. “
I think Swansea Sparkle Event is fantastic and would love Will Bowen (8.17 in video) to show me his equipment ……….he is really welcome to fit his equipment into my home anyday of the week! :-;
PS……Does anybody know when the Swansea Straight Event is on?
“Individualness”, is this woman really the best Labour can puke up for Dwyrain Abertawe?
Now that we know what we know, it’s difficult not to respond to Carolyn Harris’s performance at the start of this video without feeling a lively sense of disgust.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUlGGRdR8g
One of the roles of the Police and Crime Commissioners is defined as “to hold Chief Constables and the force to account, effectively making the police answerable to the communities they serve”. Maybe the P and CC for South Wales could be persuaded to look into just how this case was brought, because it certainly seems that Ms Clarke has suffered way beyond what you’d expect for such a dastardly “crime”, if the case should ever have been brought in the beginning. Who is the P and CC for the area nowadays? It’s Alun Michael! Oh, on second thoughts, scotch that idea……….
Then for persons who are paid up members of a trades union, you should expect decent representation if you ever get into a dispute with your employer. Jenny was, maybe still is, in Unite, wasn’t she? Homophobic bullying and assaults on a Union member should be right up their street. Maybe they’ll pull out all the stops to help her? Oh, hang on – that’s the Union that backed Carolyn Harris for Welsh Labour deputy leader and were disciplining members for going off-message and having the temerity to support Julie Morgan. Ah well, best scotch that idea as well.
Perhaps our excellent press in Wales could for once ditch their blind loyalty to Welsh Labour and give JLC a fair crack of the whip? Except that they too are part of the story, I forgot that, knowing the police were investigating JLC even before she knew of it herself. Scotch that one as well then.
I suppose JLC could ask her own MP to take up the case on her behalf. An MP would surely be able to ask questions and not be fobbed off in a way a common pleb would be. Who’s her MP then? Oh, it’s Tonia Antoniazzi, and as this is a case where we are dealing with things that include managerial incompetence and financial matters, asking a woman who claims she had to use a food bank whilst being a Head of Department in a school should hardly inspire confidence. Then again, maybe the claim was just office banter. But we’d best scotch that idea as well.
That’s excellent, Stan! Irony of which the Professor of Irony at Oxbridge could be proud.
I’ve seen some comments that Wales Labour are happy to move on as Carolyn Harris [who I’m sure in a case of banter would be happy to be called a pie eating salad dodger] has apologised. Jeremy Miles and Carwyn Jones says she has apologised so lets move on [paraphrased].
However, it is unclear to me whether she has apologised to the defendant who she accused of fraud [I presume she was the complainant upon whose allegation Plod SWP took matters up], or was it for using the excuse “banter” for offensive language which would be offensive to the LGBT community.
Can someone put me right – has all the classic hallmarks of Tony Blair spin – saying Carolyn Harris MP has apologised and time to move on but what was the apology for to J L Clarke or to her sudden new found friends in the LGBT community.
Corbyns attempt to cosy up to the jewish lobby seems to have failed maybe he needs some tips from Carolyn.
SWP [swansea] has long been used as an instrument to cover things up for politicians and favoured people and go after innocents – goes back a long way.
Good points. I guarantee there’s been no apology to Jenny Lee Clarke.
Role of SWP and the need to gather evidence from IPSA.
If I remember correctly, South Wales Police had Jenny Lee Clarke on extended bail conditions prior to the trial. This would have caused the defendant considerable distress and hardship.
I questioned this at the time. With a fraud/theft allegation it’s usual for evidence to be readily available as documentation from the office of the accuser. Elongation of the enquiry would not normally be needed in such cases. Full cooperation was evident in statements by Jenny Lee Clarke to the police, both at her home and at the police station.
Documentation should have been readily and made quickly available so as to put a prosecution file before the CPS. The elongation of bail must have been because of the time taken to obtain documentation from IPSA and the office of Carolyn Harris MP. It would also have consumed valuable police resources in Swansea.
We now know the two items of documentation were (a) the correspondence on working hours and pay rates which Jenny Lee Clarke, a document which Jenny was falsely accused of forging a signature upon, and (b) an email exchange between IPSA and Carolyn Harris MP confirming this change to the employment terms. It would be also be naecassary to disclose this evidence to the defendant and form part of the police interview.
The process that the police would have used is outlined in the findings of the (Cmdr) Quick and (MP) Damien Green inquiry. It relates to the prompt gathering of evidence while at the same time protecting the confidentiality of a MPs correspondence with constituents. Jenny Lee Clarke is a constituent of Tonia Antoniazzi not Carolyn Harris.
I have to ask, therefore, why Carolyn Harris MP refused to cooperate and assist South Wales Police in them obtaining such documentation and why the police were forced to use the formal elongated channels for that access. I can only assume that malice was involved (assuming no collusion on the part of SWP) and there being a deliberate attempt place barriers of access by Carolyn Harris in order to bully and harass Jenny Lee Clarke by means of financial hardship during the police investigation.
South Wales Police should publish a timeline.
At least prepare one.
If they don’t then I’m sure Damien Green MP would be happy to ask the Home Secretary for the reasons of delay in disclosure on the floor of the Westminster House.
Not only was there an unnecessarily long period between the accusation and the trial but at one point Jenny Lee Clarke was told that her ordeal was over and that there would be no further proceedings.
On May 17, 2017 Ms Clarke was told by Sergeant Walker at Swansea Central that she was being released from her bail conditions, discharged, as there was no evidence justifying the case proceeding. Police apologised for the length of time the non-case had taken. Though she was also told that in future she might be asked to attend voluntarily to be re-interviewed.
During this episode we also saw the attitude of Trinity Mirror newspapers, in the form of the Evening Post, which promised to report but this development but of course they never did.
To be told that in future the suspect may be asked to attend voluntarily to be re-interviewed is standard procedure. It’s an open-ended opportunity for a suspect to ‘come clean’ should they be pricked by conscience. Anyone can be ‘invited’ to attend voluntarily to be interviewed and it should not be considered a threat.
Due to a member of the Westminster Parliament being an alleged victim I would expect a police officer of inspector rank or above to oversee the case. What you are saying is that the police decided that “there is nothing in this” and dropped it.
Which begs the question what prompted South Wales Police to re-open the case at a later date?
It is quite clear the case revolved around whether the letter authorising a pay rise and change in working hours contained a ‘forged signature’ AND in doing so the defendant had the intent to benefit from it. Evidence of both needs to be present to bring a charge of fraud. Both were not true, and this is what Cardiff Crown Court concluded, very rapidly. This would have been quite evident to even the most junior of officers.
It was expressly the opinion of Sergeant Walker at Swansea Central division.
So what prompted a change of heart? What pressure did Carolyn Harris MP place on more senior police officers to pursue an evidently hopeless case?
Of course, there could have been political pressure from elsewhere in the Labour Party.
Carolyn Harris is a thick ignorant buffoon who thinks pulling an employees hair out and chucking in offensive comments like ‘dyke’ around the office is innocent banter. I’d expect her to be represented by Kentucky, McDonald and Domino, not Cledwyn, Prosser and Cadwalader. My hunch is that encouraging words to prosecute were exchanged in somewhat more salubrious surroundings, over prosecco and canapés.
I doubt if Martin Shipton will bother to get his shirt ironed to investigate this even though the fall-out in this case may well infect the senior ranks. Who lent on who to get this non-starter to court?
I still suspect the involvement of Alun Michael, the PCC.
As I understand it, in matters such as this Alun Michael has form.
In 2017, Alun made a written request to Carwyn Jones, the First Minister to define, in detail, the nebulous claims being made against Carl Sargeant AM. The reply, if any, was not published. We still don’t know what these claims are, if criminal activity was involved, or what the evidential facts were inherent in those claims. What we do know is that the claims were not put to Carl Sargeant. They resulted in him taking his own life. It’s unknown what motivated Alun to get involved in the affair, but it does appear that Alun Michael does like to get involved in putting pressure on senior police officers, either as a fishing exercise, or possibly to initiate action (or inaction) when there are affairs of embarrassment for Labour politicians.
Alun Michael should not interfere with ongoing operational matters of South Wales Police. This is especially the case at times when legal process is taking place in the courts.
To expect Alun Michael to disengage from politics now that he’s PCC is like expecting a footballer to lose interest in the game once he stops playing. It’s not going to happen.
It looks from recent Twitter feeds that LGBT Labour and Jeremy Miles have already sent out clear signals where this will now go. Basically, acknowledging that using the word “dyke” would not be a nice thing to do at all, but that Harris is not a bad old stick really and with a bit of re-programming will be an asset to (LGBT) Labour. Conveniently glossing over the assault, the homophobic bullying over what seems to be an extended period, and the fact that a jury heard a lot more than they did and formed a view of what went on there in almost record quick time. All credit to another gay Labour AM, Hannah Blythyn, who it seems was the first to break ranks and voice criticism in public of Harris’ actions. And I rarely give credit to anyone with a Labour tag, so mark this day down on the calendar.
I haven’t come across her before, but she describes herself as a “massive Corbynista” and a “gay woman”. Her deranged, hate-filled, semi-literate libels against Clarke mark her out as the sort of low-grade activist manqué whose primary characteristic is a laughably unrealistic sense of her own virtue. As I’ve said, it’s not clear whether she’s operating unilaterally or at the behest of dark forces associated with the member for Swansea East. I trust that her disgraceful remarks about Jenny Lee Clarke will be brought to the attention of Clarke’s lawyers.
On Facebook a supporter of Carolyn Harris called Claire Jones has made a series of shockingly libellous remarks about Jenny Lee Clarke. In defiance of the verdict of this week’s case, she claims that Clarke misappropriated funds in order to sustain a cocaine habit. It’s perfectly possible that Jones is acting unilaterally, perhaps because she has some sort of personal grievance against Clarke. Nevertheless, I think some questions need to be asked about her relationship to the Harris camp. Is Jones a friend of Harris’s? Is she part of a concerted attempt by Harris’s allies to disseminate wicked lies about Clarke? If Harris accepts the verdict, why has she not issued a statement condemning her supporters’ libellous attacks on Clarke?
Do you know who she is?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-45055491
Some of the party are asking her to resign from her post as shadow womens and equalities minister whilst she clears her name. Jon Lansman has written to JC.
But it seems the Labour Party in Wales is sticking by her.
I see that Carolyn Harris is all over Radio Wales this morning. Top line news, following Tweets from among some Labour MPs and calls starting to roll in demanding her resignation from her ministerial role. Statements have been released, and it seems that the ‘party of poverty’ have now been forced into a corner where they are unable to escape from being prised into the open on this. GOOD! The arrogance of thinking they could get away with shutting down the story by slinking under the radar has not worked.
I was half expecting to hear that these revelations had come following exposure on this blog – that of course is wishful thinking, however I like to think that it was a big factor in this latest development. They do read this blog, that is a certainty. All grist for the mill. She is now tainted goods, I don’t see her wriggling out of this as the pack within her party’s higher echelons is turning on her, she will be thrown out to the wolves to save the party’s blushes. Good riddance say I. I hope the wolves have a good meal!
The Labour Party in London is dismissing the issue as a “little place in Wales” and a “town hall nest of vipers” in order to minimise the damage. I doubt if this sweeping under the carpet approach will work, it’s certainly demeaning to Swansea and Wales. It’s an approach unlikely to gain acceptance in the ‘global community of LGBT and faking it with a selfie with a drag queen is unlikely to convince. In their ignorance they are unlikely to notice that if Carolyn Harris resigns as an MP and a by-election takes place, Labour would almost definitely win it, giving them the opportunity to replace a clown with someone half competent. Let’s hope they leave her in place, she is toxic to Labour, both home and away.
Carolyn Harris has posted her apology on twitter . I hope Jenny Lee Clarke sues her for wrongful dismissal. Unfortunately, there is little choice on who to vote for . Labour is attacking itself over anti semitism, but there are some decent people left in Labour. Unfortunately, those in the Assembly , the WEC keep a firm grip on who they select. Hence Carolyn was one of the chosen. I would still vote Labour in a General election as long as Jeremy Corbyn is leader. Not in an assembly or council election.
If Ms Rocio Cifuentes is out there, why don’t you come here with a pint of Gower Gold and have a chat here ….we are a friendy, cwtchy lot. As a proud Welsh woman why don’t you leave the Sanctuary cause and join us for the Independence cause it’s real fun and an entertainning movement with lots of creative ideas and no insanity, unrest, and anguish; or suffering, fear, and loneliness; or boredom, or solitude, or rage and impotence . XX
PS…..are you a Catholic?
PPS….Please, please…..come along….. you will love it…..put your feet up, sip your pint of Gower Gold and relax among Welsh Independence folk.
Come on!…..your country needs you 🙂
I see the word can be spread……
https://newsfeed.cymru/2018/08/01/justice-for-jenny-lee-clarke/
Rumblings can be heard….even the pagans of Scandinavian who have bore the worst of the terrible curse of the Cultural Marxists are beginning to see the light ………a national spirit rising!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6loWrABr8gA
Where are our Welsh youth……can they not find their inner pagan or inner Welsh Catholic?…..
……an ode to Iolo Morganwg or perhaps an ode to the blessed martyr, Prince Glyndwr…….God bless him and let us praise him!
Cambrians…. let us support our European brothers and sisters. Together we will make blessed Europa great again.
May God bless us on our quest for Independence…….and bless the followers of the cult of Glyndwr…..and it’s leader …..the blessed martyr Prince Glyndwr…….God bless him and let us praise him!
Cambrians…….Pagans and Welsh Catholics ………let us beat the drum for Glyndwr……towards the light and victory!
Are you taking anything?
A very interesting and revealing article about Swansea (and Welsh) Labour, but two questions;
Why is this sort of behavior from these labour politicians any sort of surprise ? and
Even if a bound copy of this was printed and hand delivered to every household in Wales, it would not make any difference to Welsh Labours perpetual grip on power in Wales ?
No nightmare lasts forever, the sleeper eventually wakes up.
Trouble is, Jac, who do they vote for when they wake up? Until Plaid Cymru pulls its finger out and offers something tangible to people who seem to think it a betrayal of their great-grandparents to stop voting Labour, I have a dreadful feeling Taggart may be right.
It seems that only Ein Gwlad have any rational policies that might stop the rot, and they are a party in embryonic form who will have to run the gauntlet of a pro-establishment press.
Note to Rhun (if he wins): bringing McEvoy back on board and sorting out your mess in Llanelli might be a good start, if you’re serious about all this.
“From little acorns great oak trees grow” Wrexhamian. We may be emryonic now, but embryos grow fast, and by the rate of supporters requesting to go on our Supporters Register of late, that growth is happening quickly.
Hopefully the millenials in Wales are seeing the light…..even millenials understand “it’s the economy stupid”.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5673903/Democrats-lose-ground-millennials-Reuters-Ipsos-poll.html
We need to show how Welsh Labour are a millstone around the neck of the Welsh economy.
Millenials get their news from other sources rather than pro-establishment press. The average millennial now receives 74 percent of their daily news from online sources, according to the American Press Institute……
http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2016/10/study-finds-most-millennials-get-news-online
We need to get the message out to people who don’t vote to come out and vote for a party that has a vision for Wales…….and outspoken with the truth.
We could get Welsh Labour out at the next elections if it wasn’t for Plaid who seem to have become the Political Correctness Party for Wales who will prop Welsh Labour up in the Assembly. With Leanne Wood staying on as leader till 2021 and Rhun ap BBC journo taking over from Wood it is hopeless……I think a Welsh Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition will be the next Welsh government.
It would be nice to think that we could avert the Labour/Plaid coalition…. but if nothing else, electing some Ein Gwlad AMs would give us some hope for the future…….even if they kept turning of the microphone in the chamber!
Their prescence could not be ignored!……Senedd tv ratings would definitely go up!
Might be worth taking a look at her husband’s Facebook profile. Some interesting photos have been posted in the past. Dave Harris.
There are a lot of David Harrises, have you got a link?
With Tony Blair pushing for greater pay for his followers they won’t give in easily until we go back to paying these an amount that gives them a lot bloody less than they deserve
Jenny Clarke should have signed “per procurationem.” which is a Latin phrase to say that she is signing on behalf of another person or organisation. I knew this decades ago. It would have saved all this.
I agree. But if Harris was determined to get revenge on Clarke for the embarrassment caused by Clarke going to the London papers with the story of the assault then Harris would just have found another way to do it.
Jenny Clarke should have signed it as “pp”. This means “per procurationem.” and shows that you are signing a letter of behalf of another person or party.
Yes, pp is OK if it’s just a normal letter, but if there is financial consequences in the text of the communication, then pp should never be used as it implies that the person signing the letter is acting as an agent for which he/she is paid a commission or fee for the arrangement. In this case, the court found there was no intention to personate, and no ‘forgery’ of a signature took place. So it is not relevant.
Re that Welsh Labour statement in your update, Jac. Exactly what I thought would happen with the Party that yet again serves us a dish called Moral Bankruptcy. They’ll effectively ignore the verdict knowing that in a matter of days the matter will only be discussed among those of us that hate the bastards anyway. The newspapers will say no more (not that they were covered in glory in how they dealt with it from day one), prize-winning “journalists” like the Chuckle Brothers, Shippo and Parry, will write sod all, the Abominable Teletubby will ride it all out and as I’ve said before, come the next election, normal service will be resumed and the minority that do bother to vote in Swansea East will dutifully place their cross against the Red Yeti. I fucking despair, to be honest.
A kind of Love Island with a twist. Instead of bikini clad beauties we could tune in to watch the dreadful couple prance about in obscene onesies, like two demented Teletubbies. Might I suggest Gruinard Island as a venue.
So glad Jenny Lee was exonerated- she must have had 2 years of sheer hell.With Carwyn Jones jumping ship next month what more can you expect – as for M/S Harris, listening to her makes me cringe,looking at her makes me have the vapours and this recent episode which she appears to have wormed her way out of.- absolutely confirms that she is not fit for purpose- she should resign and set up on an island far away from Wales with her new best friend the MP for Gower.
How can this total hypocrite and liar possibly survive as an MP after this? I have already sent her an email demanding she resign as my representative in Westminster, but that will be water off a duck’s back. I only wish the voters of Swansea East and Wales as a whole could bring themselves to reject Labour at the polls and vote for any party other than this bunch of hypocrites.
I spotted this in an earlier article about Mrs Harris. It said a turning point came in her thirties when she stopped by a jobs fair and she took an aptitude test.
“It came out I could either be a brain surgeon or an astronaut,” she said.
Let’s be thankful she became a Labour MP then. I’d hate to see the size of the fucking rocket needed to put her into orbit, and would you go under anaesthetic and let her play with your most prized organ (well, my second most prized then).
You paint a truly frightening picture, or two.
Like a lot.
Pity she didn’t become an Astronaut- she could have been shot into space and gone round the earth in ever decreasing circles –
You remember ‘Mean Streets’, no?
When small-time crook Johnny Boy falls out with the big powerful gangster bosses, he gets whacked.
I am sorry Johnny got whacked, but Johnny was still a crook. Just a little crook.
The gangster story is always the same, Swansea East or Little Italy or Cardiff Bay.
I’m a sucker for Mob movies, I know them all, but I don’t understand the relevance. Johnny Boy didn’t fall foul of a big powerful gangster, just a low-ranking chiseller to whom he owed money.
This is (even for Welsh Labour) a very peculiar story on many levels.
It is an offence to instruct somebody to forge your own signature on financial returns. It appears that the jury believe Carolyn Harris MP did exactly that.
It is very surprising that Jenny Lee Clarke used Carolyn Harris’ signature. In her place, I would have used my own signature, noting that I was acting under some form of authority, be it a power of attorney or otherwise. Why did she not do this?
At the trial, it was claimed that this was standard practice in Carolyn Harris’ office. That (if true) is very, very surprising. It suggests an office in which even very basic standards of control, accountability and integrity have been lost.
Carolyn Harris emerges from all this as a monster. Why is she an MP, let alone Deputy Leader?
But, I am not wholly convinced that Jenny Lee Clarke is whiter-than-white.
Why on earth did Jenny Lee Clarke not report what seems to have been a violent assault immediately in November 2014? Why wait till after she was sacked?
Why did she wait two years before writing in her diary on 06.01.14 “Was going to speak to C.H regarding I.P.S.A I wasn’t comfortable!”, when it seems she was doing this since 12.04.12
I note that Juries can deliver a verdict against facts, if the Jury feels that either the law or punishment are unjust.
Even for Welsh Labour, this is a murky business. Almost as murky as the Carl Sergeant affair.
In fairness, Jenny Lee Clarke said that she never actually signed as Carolyn Harris, she just put Harris’s name to things.
The office was a shambles because Harris is, fundamentally, a lazy bugger.
“Why on earth did Jenny Lee Clarke not report what seems to have been a violent assault immediately in November 2014?” She was a single mother in fear of losing her sole source of income. Harris was not then her employer but it was assumed that she would be the candidate for May 2015. Though Harris’s behaviour was reported to the then MP Sian James, I mention that and provide the link. Once she was sacked Jenny Lee Clarke had nothing to lose. You ask a very strange question there.
“Why did she wait two years before writing in her diary on 06.01.14 “Was going to speak to C.H regarding I.P.S.A I wasn’t comfortable!”, when it seems she was doing this since 12.04.12”. She may have written that i her diary at an earlier date as well, it’s just that I used that date.
I had dealings with Carolyn Harris at the start of her career, it was not very pleasant. Unfortunately, one of her constituents.
Give this one some thought.
May 2015 – Sian James claims £3500 for office redecoration, painting and cleaning, following her completing her tenure as MP in Swansea East.
June 2015 – Sian James claims £3000 for “making good office, dilapidations”, probably paid to the landlord of the premises. Surely, if you have repainted it, redecorated and cleaned it – why is the dilapidations figure so large?
Sept 2015 – Carolyn Harris claims £1000 for “cosmetic” work, listed as painting, erect shelves and general.
Same office. Mind you, with all that painting, I’m surprised no-ones made a claim for damage to their health because of paint fumes.
Rearrange these words to form a well known phrase. “The Taking P*ss Someone’s”.
Quite a bit of the work was done by Harris’s son. I have the bills.
That’s interesting, Jac, because Peter Hain did the same sort of thing, paying his son nearly £6K to draw up a website, widely regarded as a pretty useless one at that. But if I am correct, IPSA subsequently brought in new guidelines supposedly preventing MPs from using “connected parties” to carry out work for them. If I’m right then Harris would have broken this rule by using her son.
Here are the invoices. I suppose it all depends when the new guidelines became effective.
OK. It’s the Seventh Edition of the Rule Book you want to look at, linked to here:
http://www.theipsa.org.uk/media/1255/7-mps-scheme-of-business-costs-and-expenses-seventh-edition-april-2015.pdf
Have a read of paras 3.15 and 3.16 and as far as I’m concerned, MPs are not allowed to buy in goods or services that are from a “connected party”. Her son would fall into this. They changed the rules just after Hain did it but that was back pre-2010 days.
i should have said, of course, that the only invoice that could fall foul of the rules was the Sept 2015 one for £1000 as the other work was commissioned in Sian James’ day. These would not have broken the IPSA rules, only the rules of common decency, where you don’t take the piss by spending public money with a mate/employee’s son.
Although it is outside my normal area of Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire I have been following this story with interest. Reminds me of your previous post 30 September 2017 and the “Lady in Red” photo.
How could we forget the Lady in Red. She might even be visible from Pembrokeshire!
Whilst there’s been no statement from the Labour Party in Swansea or in Wales on the matter, there has been a statement from Labour HQ in London. It was printed in last nights edition of the ‘Metro’ newspaper, a freebee on the London tube (thanks GWR).
“A Labour spokesman added: “Carolyn vigorously denies this allegation. It is town hall politics from a little place in South Wales. It’s a nest of vipers.”
https://metro.co.uk/2018/07/30/labour-mp-homophobic-bully-mocked-staff-gay-7778554/
That’s the official Labour Party line. Homophobic bullying doesn’t matter in “little” places like Wales, and although Carolyn Harris is a Westminster MP, the official line of Labour HQ if it’s one their own is from Wales, then they are relegated to ‘town hall’ status.
What a disgusting response from them but little different to what I’d expect. It’s funny though, I’m sure I have heard that nest of vipers description about Labour in Swansea before. I wonder if the same Labour Party people are involved?
Harris was backed for Deputy Leader by at least three openly gay politicians in Wales, Jeremy Miles, Chris Bryant and Gerald Jones, so I wonder what’s going through their minds right now. Not a lot probably – these people have skins like rhinos and I doubt they have given poor Jenny Lee Clarke’s situation a second’s thought.
As Stan points out, this case has concentrated the mind on what ‘homophobic bullying’ is and looking at the twitter feed of notable Labour Party activists in Wales and it evident that political revision on ‘Gay Rights’ abound. As ever the Labour Party are trying to revise history to improve their image. It is a sham. For the record, may correct the myths now being peddled by ‘Welsh’ Labour Party.
(a) The first country to formally legalise homosexuality in the modern era was Russia. Homosexuality as a crime was specifically removed from the legal code in 1917 after the October revolution and formally declared as a ‘citizens right’ in 1922. It was only re-criminalized in 1933 under Stalin.
(b) There were times where homosexuality became legal such as in France, before this, but this was by accident or default as revolutions repealed all criminal code and there was a temporary window of oversight, not conscious legislation.
(c) The first country to legalise gay marriage by popular referendum was the Republic of Ireland. It was not the United Kingdom. ‘New Labour’ and Tony Blair had no part in it.
(d) The first country in the middle-east to legalise homosexuality was not Israel. It was a country of Islamic culture, Jordan in 1951, the age of consent being set at age 16.
(e) The first county to legalise homosexuality in the Americas was not the United States. It was Argentina, in 1886, followed by Uruguay in 1934.
(f) Successive Labour governments refused to legalise homosexuality in the United Kingdom. The first countries (other than Russia) to specifically legalise homosexuality in Europe were Poland 1932, Iceland 1940, Denmark 1933 and Switzerland 1942. All under ‘libertarian’ governments and not from the left. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Sweden in 1944 where a socialist government classed it as a ‘legal illness’ until 1979.
(g) Chris Bryant the MP for Rhondda is not some kind of gay champion. It should be noted the Rhondda Labour Party specifically refused a donation to a by-election campaign for the first openly gay Labour candidate, Peter Tatchell in Bermondsey in 1981 due to his homosexuality. At the time Chris Bryant was then a Conserviative Party member in Oxford and supported clause 28.
(h) The legalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967 was not Labour policy. It was passed by a ‘private members bill’, no pun intended, sponsored by Leo Abse (Labour in the Commons) and Arthur Gore (Conservative in the Lords). The Labour Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, summed up the Labour policy on the issue at the time by saying “those who suffer from this disability carry a great weight of shame all their lives”.
(i) Chris Bryant (Labour) was not the first openly gay MP to be elected in Wales. He shares that title with Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) who previously stood for election in the Gower constituency in 1992, the sitting Labour MP, Denzil Davies, was openly homophobic.
(j) Some Labour MPs in Wales consistently voted against gay equality legislation, most notable was Dai Havard (Merthyr) and Paul Murphy (Torfaen).
So when people gasp in disbelief at what went on in the Jenny lee Clarke case, remember homophobic bullying is not an aberration in the Welsh Labour Party. It’s in their nature. Carolyn Harris taking selfies next to drag queens as some form of media stunt to mitigate ‘dyke shoes your sacked’ does not advance the cause of equality, it’s what you do as an MP that counts.
Just one point, Brychan. I wouldn’t call Jordan in 1951 a country of “Islamic culture”. The French influence was everywhere and there may even have been a Christian majority, certainly a Christian + Druze majority. The Islamic attitude to homosexuality is consistently hostile, often brutally so.
The historic Islam hostility to homosexuality is no more brutal than Christian. I said ‘culture’ not the historical tenets of the religion. Islam, along with western elite ‘progressives’ has tried to erase from history the heroic and secular nationalist movements in the Middle East. The ‘Arab revolt’ during WW1 was supported by the British Empire merely as a means of diverting the Ottomans (Turkey). The Brits who had promised Arabic independence betrayed them. From 1921 until 1946 the country of TransJordan had the mirage ‘devolution’ as a ‘protectorate’. It was only gained full independence in 1946. In 1951 the British law criminalizing homosexuality was repealed. In 1952 there was the introduction of a democratic parliamentary system of representation although still under a hereditary monarch. Enshrined in this constitution was citizens rights and duties, in which homosexuality was NOT a criminal offence. It was later criminalized under the ‘Arab Federation’ an alliance with the British supported Saudi Arabia, which was formed to derail the ‘United Arab Republic’ under Egyptian president Gamal Nasser. Nasser, of course, had just evicted the Brits and French from Suez. Perhaps when Wales gets to teach it’s own history in schools we will also be able to see the narrative of history in foreign lands without the distortion of our own colonial masters.
Brychan, I mis-read your earlier comment. I thought you said Lebanon. That’s the price for answering comments when only half awake.
Excellent article, Jac. I’d love to see just some of the questions you raise being answered but as usual the Establishment will shut up shop to protect themselves and their own. I have always found this case quite incredible for a number of reasons. On the face of it a relatively simple case of alleged minor fraud, “evidence” easily gathered, but look at the time it hung over Ms Clarke’s head. Two years from the time she was charged to getting it to court, all that stress for all that time – surely this is wholly unacceptable. And that’s not counting how long Plod kept her on bail. Then the “evidence” seemed so flimsy to bring a case anyway, with the added issue of the assault accusations, complete with a witness, and the fact that Sian James had already spoken to Harris about homophobic behaviour. What were the CPS thinking? The jury were out just 90 minutes so by the time they introduced themselves to each other and appointed a Foreperson, they must have spent about an hour in dismissing it. Clarke has rightly been vindicated, Harris’ reputation has bitten the dust, and many of those in the Labour establishment who have backed her, even recently, now have egg all over their faces. Questions have to be asked of the behaviour of Plod, the CPS and the P & CC and you have rightly brought these out. Yet come the next election I suspect normal service will be resumed. The electorate in Swansea East will fall for the same old bullshit that only Labour can protect them from the evil Tories and Harris or another clone will be on the next Gravy Train to Westminster. Weep for Wales, alright.
I loved the caption to the photo that Carolyn Harris was the one in the middle. You’d only know it because she’s obviously the one had her snout in the trough the longest. Otherwise they all look like absurd pantomime dames.
Fascinating. “There are none as blind as those who do not want to see”.
Let’s hope the general public at large will start to open their eyes soon. Before Cymru falls totally into the pit, being led by a blind party who’s controlled our affairs (ably supported by their ‘little helpers’) in Cardiff Bay for the last 20 years. The onlooking parties in Y Senedd being no better, because they don’t really care a hoot about Cymru and her people either. It’s all about self serving groups in all the ‘old brigade’ style parties, where ‘me’ and ‘my’ party doctrines come first, second and last.
Not rocket science is it? You can’t expect anything different from “The Party of Poverty”. After all, if they conquered poverty and social deprivation, where would they get their future votes from? It’s a no brainer – if you think about it.
What’s needed is a party that GUARANTEES to put Cymru and her citizens first, without conducting their affairs to promote their own party’s doctrines and dogmas ahead of what’s best for our country.
You can make a start in this process by clicking HERE.
Swansea Labour Party seem to remain silent on this. If she had a thread of decency then she would resign.
‘Thread of decency’? . . . Labour Party?