Falkirk Herald tells Eric "It's Time to Go"

The Falkirk Herald who have in the last two general elections been generous in their coverage to all candidates from all parties have, following the trial of Eric Joyce one of the local MPs, finally made their feelings know on the MP who pleaded guilty to assault charges.

Publish an open letter from themselves in today's edition they say:

"Dear Eric,

"In more than 10 years as MP for Falkirk, you have consistently hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

"You retained enough support to be re-elected two years ago but the latest disgraceful episode in a House of Commons bar is a step too far.

"Your conviction for assault brought shame not only on yourself but on the people of Falkirk.

"It is apparent to us that you have lost the respect of many members of the public and it is our view that you are no longer a fit person to represent this constituency.

"We call on you to resign immediately and seek whatever help you need to tackle the issues that have led to this sorry situation. 

"The Falkirk Herald."

Frank and too the point. We wait and see how the MP will respond.

Eric Joyce:- I announce my resigniation....

Eric Joyce making his statement today

...from the Labour Party.

So there was growing speculation leading up to 4:15 of what the personal statement from Eric Joyce the MP for Falkirk would contain.

He admitted that his behaviour in the Strangers Bar was not befitting of anyone in the House, or anywhere. He said he will be following the restrictions of his sentence the the precincts of the Palace of Westminster as elsewhere and that there were personal issues that he had to deal with.

He apologised to the MPs and Councillors who he has assaulted and who the court last Friday ordered him to pay damages. As well as to the Police Officers who were involved in his arrest. As well as his constituents who he would apologise too elsewhere and in other ways.

He thanked the messages of support from all sides of the House of Commons and the Lords.

Then he came to the final statement.

" I have today tendered my resignation as a member of the Labour party to my party leader."

So Falkirk now have an Independent MP by the name of Eric Joyce, with no connections currently or in the future to any political party.

His statement in full:

"Thank you, Mr Speaker. Hon. Members will be aware of the events in the Strangers Bar on 22 February, during which the standard of my conduct fell egregiously below what is required of a Member of this House or, indeed, of anyone, anywhere. I am grateful for this opportunity to apologise without reservation to the House, and, in particular, to the hon. Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew), my hon. Friend the Member for Sedgefield (Phil Wilson), the hon. Members for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy), for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke) and for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price), Councillors Luke Mackenzie and Ben Maney, police officers on the night and, indeed, everyone else affected by my actions that evening; clearly that will not be an exhaustive list. They have all shown considerable grace in their public comment, for which I am very grateful. I do, of course, have other apologies to make, including to my constituents, and I will take other opportunities outside this place to do so at greater length.

"Sir, I would like to express my thanks to Members on both sides of the House, and indeed the other place, who have contacted me to express concern, however undeserved it is on my part. Clearly, I have a number of personal issues to address and you can be assured that this will take place. In the meantime, Members will know that certain short-term constraints have been quite rightly placed on me by the court. I will, of course, observe them strictly within the parliamentary precincts as well as elsewhere.

"I would also like to inform the House that I have today tendered my resignation as a member of the Labour party to my party leader. Thank you, Sir."

Not every one in a public story is public property

Eric Joyce has made the news again today. I'm not going to be linking to any of the articles and here is the reason why.

The reason he has made the news was that he is accused of an affair with an at the time 17 year-old student at one of the high schools in his constituency. Someone who was working in his constituency office. She also co-chaired the debate at her high school, one of those at which I stepped in as agent because our Lib Dem candidate was working at the time and unable to get time off.

That was where I first met the teenager in question. Like Eric Joyce I was one of her friends on Facebook and mutual followers on Twitter and this is where the reason I am not linking to the story kicks in.

The Tabloid has used Facebook pictures of an intern working in an MPs campaign office and Tweets between the two as evidence of an affair. I think of all the young party activists who appear in campaign shots across all parties across Facebook all the time. Many of our younger members love to bag as many pictures as possible with the big names when they come to campaign, so it is hardly surprising that pictures of a young campaigner with big names appears on Facebook. She was a keen, politically knowledgeable and active teenager.

Like Eric I also asked via Twitter how the result of her exams went when they came through, I do the same for anyone looking forward to exam results on my feed every year, especially those I've met and know. I also wished her a happy birthday when she finally turned 18 after the election, one thing that emerged during the question on votes at 16.

However, there is an accusation that the affair has been going on for the last 2 years. But, the young lady in question has the right to move on without the baggage of such a story being around any current or future relationship she may have. I notice today that her Facebook profile has been taken down, her Twitter account has been protected for some time. Whatever the interest in the story this is someone who is still only 19 that has been plastered across the papers today, this is someone who through the interconnetiveness of social media has maintained friendships with a mixture of political people.

Yet this is someone who feels hounded today by the tabloid press.

While the rich and famous attempt to hide behind super injunctions young people can be preyed on by the press. In this case there are quotes from members of the Falkirk Constituency Labour Party. It is likely that the identity of that nineteen year old was given to the press by one of them in a final attempt to push the resignation or at least deselection of the MP. But in doing so they have made her collateral damage, seemingly without thinking of the consequences that have unravelled today. As someone who knows her reading my twitter stream today has made horrid reading.

As Johann Lamont the leader of the Labour in Scotland says: 

 "If these reports are true, [Eric Joyce] is a man who has abused his position of power and authority."

He alone has the case to answer to if he found to have abused his position of authority. It is not open season to spread lies, or even just dig scurrilously for any fragment of truth, if there is any, and potentially ruin someone whose live has moved on. It is not right to have slain down a 19 year-old as collateral damage.

***BREAKING*** Sky confirm Eric Joyce arrested on suspicion of assault

When Twitter lights up with the news that an MP you have taken on in debate has been arrested and in the Strangers Bar in Westminster itself, you want to have it confirmed. So it was that Sky News were the first TV news to confirm the rumours.

It appears the MP from the constituency next to the one I stood in, who I took on in two of the hustings for Falkirk, as agent, while the candidate was unable to get out of work commitments. Falkirk's Labour MP Eric Joyce, a former Army officer, allegedly headbutted Conservative MP for Pudsey Stuart Andrew. Apparently five policemen were required to remove the MP from the bar.

Eric has been in the House since winning the seat then of Falkirk West following the resignation of Dennis Canavan to follow his Holyrood career. It is possible in light of the serious nature of the events tonight that a by election may be the end of his political career 12 years on.

Update subsequently both BBC and ITV also confirmed the indentity.

Update 2: Labour have this morning suspended Mr Joyce from the party as spokesperson saying:

"This is an extremely serious incident. We have suspended Eric Joyce pending the results of the police investigation."

The Speaker of the House John Bercow also commented:

"Members will be aware of reports of a serious incident in the House last night. I have been informed by the Serjeant at Arms that the honourable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody.

"The matter is being investigated. I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities."

However, early this morning many Labour supporters on Twitter why trying to spin a positive message out of the alleged common assault of a Labour MP on a Tory one.

Digital Economy Bill - YourCountryNeedsYou.com #DEBill

I have to say that Jennie puts the urgency of action well while everyone's favourite Elephant sums up the Lib Dem debate from Sunday (plus other stuff) well. I just want to emphasise the need for you to write to your MP about this, the danger is that the already authoritarian Labour party are going to attempt to rush this draconian bill through the House without proper scrutiny, consultation or debate.

If the internet literate in the Liberal Democrats had to call their own representatives to task over their illiberialism in trying to cut the illiberial nature of this bill how much less can we trust Labour or the Tories to see the light unless you tell them, no not tell them shout at them.

You can if you wise use this 38 degrees webform or if you are local to me write a personal email or visit them at their surgeries. Here are some helpful links to get in touch with the West Lothian and Falkirk representatives.

Linlithgow and East Falkirk: Michael Connarty email connartym@parliament.uk

5 Kerse Road
Grangemouth FK3 8HQ
Telephone: (01324) 474832
Fax: (01324) 666811

Or

62 Hopetoun Street
Bathgate
EH48 4PD
Telephone: (01506) 676711
Fax: (01506) 676722

Falkirk: Eric Joyce email joycee@parliament.uk Twitter id @ericjoyce

The Studio, Burnfoot Lane

Falkirk FK1 5BH

01324 679449

Or

37 Church Walk

Denny FK6 6DF

01324 823200

Livingston: Jim Devine email devinej@parliament.uk

4 Newyearfield Farm,

Livingston

01506 497961

Next surgeries:

Michael Connarty
Friday 19th Newton Community Centre 17:00-18:00
Saturday 20th Bathgate Constituency Office 10:30-11:30

Any details of Eric or Jim please let me know in the comments.

Pickles Says Call For a General Election

Wasting no time with Labour, or at least if seems Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, in turmoil Eric Pickles calls for an immediate General Election. Admittedly we are weeks away from one being called but this is opportunism and also a very badly timed call for such action.

There is talk of the freeze lasting another three weeks, parts of Scotland have been cut off for three weeks and may well be for another 3. So campaigning, voting and counting the ballots in some of the more remote Scottish areas would be impossible for a 3 or 4 week campaign at this time.

Harry Cole (aka Tory Bear) has repeated this call just now on Sky News calling for Gordon to go to the Palace in the morning. Pickles has been saying call an election now for ages. But now is just not the right time, just yet not when large sections of the country are merely knuckled down to survive the winter. Many of us are constantly watching the weather and getting away as soon as we can, or sooner if we need to from work. I have friends all over the place who are working from home because they cannot get into work. Every screen in my office has the BBC local weather open on a number of windows along with the traffic reports.

So yes while I want to see the back of illiberal Labour I don't want an election to be fought when people's safety and livelihoods is at risk in some of our remotest areas. So in the bleak mid-winter is not the time for such opportunism from Pickles or the Tories. Maybe they;ve realised after 4 days of bloopers that 4 months may well do a lot of harm, bring that on.

Joyce Tells Gordon Get a Grip....On Defence

Eric Joyce has chosen the 70th Anniversary of the declaration of War on Hitler's Germany to resign as the parliamentary private secretary to Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth. In his

he tells the Prime Minster to get a grip. Not actually in those words but he concludes saying:

"I believe the next election is ours to win, thanks greatly to your personal great economic success. But we cannot win unless we grip defence. Above all, Labour must remember that service folk and their families are our people. We say that we honour them for their risk, bravery and sacrifice and we must at literally all costs continue to show by our actions that we mean it."

His letter is a strong rebuke on the war senior members of his own party are attacking senior military personnel while keeping those very experienced voices silent.

"Behind the hand attacks by any Labour figure on senior service personnel are now, to the public, indistinguishable from attacks on the services themselves. Conversely, in my view we should allow our service personnel greater latitude to voice their views on matters which make distinctions between defence and politics pointless."

No doubt the man who resigned his commission as a Major just 10 years ago has like that other former soldier 70 years ago kept his ear to the ground with his former colleagues. Like Churchill he is saying that something needs to be done, something that he feels cannot be done despite his experience from inside the MoD at the moment.

He also says that he does not think that "the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets." Going on to talk about the uncertainty about British forces continued deployment in Afghanistan.

However, he does note that a British withdrawal leaving the USA to fight on alone "would mean the end of NATO as a meaningful proposition" all the while acknowledging the proud tradition of British forces punching well above their weight.

It is an interesting time to go, although he said that the decision was made some weeks ago. The choice of today seventy years on from when Neville Chamberlain announced to the nation, "I have to tell you now that no such undertaking (withdrawal from Poland) has been received and consequently this country is now at war with Germany," can surely not have been overlooked by a military man.

Consequence? I think not. I mean the man is a mature* Sandhurst Graduate and was commissioned into the Royal Army Educational Corps.

Update: Subrosa has asked me to point on a couple of occasions in the comments to point out that Eric started as a private in the Black Watch at 18 before leaving to get a degree at 21, entering Sandhurst and becoming a mature 'cadet' at 27. As this does point out that he know live in the ranks, officers' mess and the difficulties being a mature officer cadet can bring, I have decided to add the detail, as it shows the mans possibly unique grasp of Army matters even further from the current green benches.

Eric Joyce's Resignation Letter

Hat tip to Channel 4 News

Gordon Brown MP
10 Downing Street
LONDON

3 September 2009

Gordon

As you may know, I told Bob Ainsworth some weeks ago that I intended to step down as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Defence Secretary before the start of the new parliamentary term. This seems to me the least disruptive time to do that. I have been privileged to work as PPS to four senior Labour ministers in four government departments and now feel that I can make my best contribution to the Labour effort in parliament by concentrating on helping, as a regular back-bencher, to show that Labour remains sound on matters of Defence.

Labour was returned to power in 1997 on the back of your great success in turning the Economy from a weakness into a strength for Labour. Our continuing success in helping people from all parts of society become more prosperous, while helping the least well-off most, is built upon that. More quietly, during the 90's, Labour's then shadow defence team showed how Labour had become, after the disaster of the early 1980s, 'sound' on Defence. It seems to me that your personal success on the economy won the deal in 1997, while colleagues at Defence sealed it.

We are now, I think, once again at a critical time for Labour and Defence. The Conservatives, of course opportunistically, think they can convince the public that we have lost our empathy with the Defence community. We must not allow this to happen. I know that you have great commitment to our armed forces and this was clear when you visited Afghanistan this week, yet there seem to me to be some problems which need fixing with the greatest urgency.

As you know, two Black Watch soldiers gave their lives during your visit. I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets. Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan.

I think we must be much more direct about the reality that we do punch a long way above our weight, that many of our allies do far too little, and that leaving the field to the United States would mean the end of NATO as a meaningful proposition. The British people have a proud history of facing such realities. They understand the importance of the allied effort in Afghanistan/Pakistan and I think they would appreciate more direct approach by politicians. We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time limited. It should be possible now to say that we will move off our present war-footing and reduce our forces there substantially during our next term in government.

We also need a greater geopolitical return from the United States for our efforts. For many, Britain fights; Germany pays, France calculates; Italy avoids. If the United States values each of these approaches equally, they will end up shouldering the burden by themselves. The first place to start is an acceptance this week by them, and by the Afghanistan electoral authorities, that there must be a second round in the elections there. I do not think the British people will support the physical risk to our servicemen and women unless they can be given confidence that Afghanistan's government has been properly elected and has a clear intent to deal with the corruption there which has continued unabated in recent years.

Most important of all, we must make it clear to every serviceman and woman, their families and the British public that we give their well-being the highest political priority. Behind the hand attacks by any Labour figure on senior service personnel are now, to the public, indistinguishable from attacks on the services themselves. Conversely, in my view we should allow our service personnel greater latitude to voice their views on matters which make distinctions between defence and politics pointless.

I believe the next election is ours to win, thanks greatly to your personal great economic success. But we cannot win unless we grip defence. Above all, Labour must remember that service folk and their families are our people. We say that we honour them for their risk, bravery and sacrifice and we must at literally all costs continue to show by our actions that we mean it.

I intend to do what modest amount I can to help from the back-benches.

Yours sincerely

Eric Joyce MP

****Breaking**** Eric Joyce Resigns as PPS to Defence Secretary

Former Army major and MP for Falkirk Eric Joyce has resigned as the parliamentary private secretary to the Defece Secretary, Bob Ainsworth. In his letter he is critical of the Government and particularly the Labour Parties handling of Afghanistan. His army career started in the Black Watch who have recently lost two of their number in Afghanistan.

More to follow.

Are Labour Heading for Meltdown in the East of Scotland?

When STV voting was brought in the 2007 Scottish council elections it largely brought about an end of the Labour fiefdoms in the Central Belt at local level. However, the domination of their MPs was only broken from North Berwick to Falkirk by John Barrett for the Lib Dems in Edinburgh West. Is that about to change with almost all of their 11 MPs in the region implicated in some way or other in the expenses scandal?

The former leader of Edinburgh City Council Donald Anderson who stood unsuccessfully for Holyrood in Edinburgh South last time says he is worried. The Labour hierarchy is preparing for the possibility of losing 8 of their 11 seats which in 2005 would largely have been considered safe. The majority would in fact of been expected to survive a 10 percent swing but things are looking so grim that only the Prime Minister may have a safe haven.

The Chancellor Alistair Darling is not immune in his Edinburgh South West seat with his not tax deductible tax advise being tax deducted as well as his flipping. Nigel Griffiths was already precarious in Edinburgh South with his 405 majority from 2005. The West Lothian and Falkirk mob of Connarty, Devine and Joyce are all battling to quell public outcry about the way they have seen to be claiming expenses, in the case of Devine on goods already claimed for when Connarty bought them new.