In December last year, an Early Day motion was proposed by Lib Dem MP, Evan Harris.

The Motion is thus:

That this House notes that human rights activists, scientists, writers and journalists are prevented from publishing, and the public prevented from reading, matters of strong public interest due to the chilling effect of English libel law; further notes that libel actions in England and Wales cost 100 times more than the European average; further notes that the costs of defending a libel case are usually prohibitive and that even successful defendants do not recover their full costs; and further notes the report of the United Nations Committee on Human Rights which criticises English libel law for its stifling of free expression globally due to libel tourism whereby foreign complainants bring cases against foreign writers for alleged libel in overseas publications; believes that public interest is endangered by powerful vested interests and corporations being able to intimidate writers into not publishing; further believes that the libel laws discriminate against average and low paid people when victims of defamatory comment in the pages of national publications; recognises the recent report by Index on Censorship and English PEN, Free speech is not for sale andfurther notes the campaign for scientific freedom by Sense About Science; welcomes the formation of the Libel Reform Coalition to campaign for law reform; and calls for a re-casting of the libel laws such that, while individual reputation is protected against malicious or reckless smears, lawful free expression is not chilled and there is a fully effective public interest defence for both scholarship and responsible journalism.

Phew! A bit of a mouthful, but it says esssentially that the existing libel laws intimidate writers and stifle free expression and need to be changed.

http://www.edms.org.uk/edms/2009-2010/423.htm

It was signed by John Mann.

Yet he sends a letter threatening me with a libel action because I publish something he doesn’t like.

This is my MP.

In his recent letter to Retford residents (see previous post), John Mann’s loyalty to the Labour Party seems to have evaporated.

Click graphic to enlarge

I am asking you and your family and friends to support me in being re-elected as your MP because of my commitment to keep fighting hard for the people of Bassetlaw no matter who forms the next Government

Not a word about  Labour Party national policies or a few words of encouragement for his boss. In fact, the only mention of Labour is in the letter’s address.

I’m sure Gordon Broon will be delighted to read this.

Every Mann for himself, eh?

Solidarity brothers!

I’ve just been sent a campaign letter from John Mann to a Retford resident.

It begins:

As your MP, …

Oops! Last time I looked, Patrick Mercer was the MP for Retford.

Don’t you know who you represent, John?

Of course you do. It’s you.

I trust Patrick will make you retrieve all those letters immediately.