The former British immigration minister Phil Woolas was ejected from parliament on Friday after two high court judges ruled that he lied about his Liberal Democrat opponent during the general election, in a judgment that is likely to have profound implications for all future campaigns.
Woolas of the Labour Party claimed the ruling — which also triggered a by-election and barred him from standing again for three years — would “chill political speech,” but the Lib Dem who challenged his 103 majority welcomed the decision, saying lying should play no part in democratic elections.
Elwyn Watkins claimed Woolas knowingly misled voters in the Oldham East constituency in the north of England, in a bid to stir up religious tensions in the last days of the election earlier this year by claiming Watkins had “wooed” Islamic extremists.
He also claimed Woolas lied about Watkins’ intention to live in the constituency.
The specially convened election court upheld those arguments after it saw confidential e-mails between Woolas’ team, which included the line: “If we don’t get the white folk angry, he’s [Woolas] gone.”
In the first decision of its kind for 99 years, Woolas — who said he would seek a judicial review of the verdict — automatically loses his seat in the House of Commons and is barred for three years. The speaker will clarify by-election plans in the House tomorrow.
Woolas was also suspended from the Labour Party. Deputy party leader Harriet Harman said it was “no part of Labour’s politics to try to win elections by telling lies” and the party would not support any appeal.
Watkins called the ruling a “victory for fair play and clean politics.”
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