A statement by David Clelland MP
There are many ways of telling the truth, and many of deliberately misleading by skirting around the truth.
Liberal Democrats are world experts at the latter and Councillor Wallace of Whickham is a leading advocate. In his latest diatribe he draws attention to his attack on me during the 2001 election campaign when he was the Lib Dem candidate opposing me. With the help of the local newspaper at the time he alleged that I was not doing my job as an MP. As his blog now repeats,
"In the 1997-2001 Parliament he spoke only once. And that was only 4 words. I was the person who exposed this and I suspect Mr Clelland has not forgiven me for bringing the attention of Tyneside to his roar of silence."
What he, and the newspaper concerned at the time failed to point out was that between 1997 and 2001, I was a government whip. Government whips, because of their responsibilities and by long tradition do not make speeches in Parliament or support motions other than those put down by the government.
This kind of half-truth is typical of the Lib Dems who habitually distort the facts and claim credit for things they have no responsibility for. Look out for more examples of this from Cllr Wallace.
| Promoted by Ken Childs on behalf of David Clelland, both of 19 Ravensworth Road, Dunston, Gateshead. NE11 9AB |