Nadine Dorries is a Liar and Unfit to Hold Public Office

I have been following the Nadine Dorries saga for a while now, and have participated mostly by re-tweeting when others had made a good point, writing to the Bedfordshire on Sunday whenever they have been particularly partisan or snivelling, and, crucially, voting for her opponent in the general election (which I’m sure many of you wish you could have done). This is my first blog on the subject.

This morning my MP posted a particularly idiotic piece in praise of BBC impartiality. I will come back to that subject. But on the way she finally came out and made direct allegations against Tim Ireland, who writes at @bloggerheads, and described the actions she took.

In doing so she lied. This may come as a shock to those who might expect better of an MP, although not to anyone who knows Ms Dorries. Those lies have now spilled over into my domain, criminal law, so I thought I’d get in there first with this. Here is part of the offending, and offensive, blog:

I have reported Tim Ireland to the House of Commons police on three occasions and the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police explored the option of triggering section 5 of the Public Disorder Act.

Let’s take that short passage.
1) Ms Dorries has made this claim about reporting Tim Ireland to the House of Commons police before. She has been challenged to provide crime reference numbers* to prove the complaints. So far she has ignored these calls.

That, you might say, is not enough to accuse her of lying. Then let us consider that Tim Ireland has said on numerous occasions that he has had no contact from the Police in connection with these complaints, and as he points out the idea that so serious a complaint had been made and advice given** without any action being taken is nonsense. As a criminal practitioner of 10 years experience, I agree entirely with Tim in that.

2) The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police did not explore the option of triggering section 5 of the Public Disorder Act. I can state this with absolute certainty for two reasons. 1. There is no such thing as the Public Disorder Act. There is the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 [CDA], there is the Public Order Act 1986 [POA]. But no Public Disorder Act.

Section 5 of the CDA extends various powers to local authorities, it does not create an offence and has nothing to do with Chief Constables. So let’s rule out ‘triggering’ that.

Section 5 of the POA does create an offence. Let’s be charitable to Ms Dorries and assume that is what she meant. The section reads as follows:

5 Harassment, alarm or distress.

(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he—
(a)uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b)displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,
within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.

This offence is punishable only by a fine, the maximum being £1,000.

So on to 2.
2. s5 POA is amongst the most minor criminal offences on the statute book. It is often described by lawyers as ‘drunk & disorderly without the drink’ or my preferred definition, ‘using naughty words in the street’.

If an MP complained to a Chief Constable about being harassed to the extent that Ms Dorries complains about Tim Ireland, one would hope that that senior officer might suggest one of the offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, offences which not only carry prison sentences but which can then be followed up with a restraining order.

But no, according to Ms Dorries the suggested remedy is to charge the individual with the most minor offence conceivable for which he cannot be imprisoned and which carries no disincentive to him to continue his campaign of terror***.

This is the legal equivalent of saying “I showed my GP a gaping hole in my skull and he advised me to take some aspirin”. The suggestion is so laughable that I have no doubt but that the whole episode was invented.

So there it is. My two pennies. If you didn’t already know, Nadine Dorries is a liar and unfit to hold public office.

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* A crime reference number is a unique number given to any victim of crime at the point of their first complaint. It serves to identify the investigation, can be used by insurance companies to ensure that offences have been reported and is proof that a complaint has in fact been made. By refusing to disclose these numbers Ms Dorries brings her own complaint into doubt.
** http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2010/10/exposing-nadine-dorries/
*** “Tim Ireland’s Campaign of Terror” is now copyrighted. If Ms Dorries wants to use it she is welcome to contact me.