John Mann, apparently not content with talking nonsense in Bassetlaw, has decided to dump on the voters of Newark for a change. Offering his support (that’s going to become a poison chalice any day – watch this space) to the Labour candidate in the upcoming election, Mann called a public meeting to criticise the proposals for the NHS in Newark.

Addressing the huge crowd of 17 (seventeen), Mann referred to his campaign for saving  Bassetlaw’s A&E in 2003.

A typical Mann Myth, Bassetlaw A&E was NEVER, EVER going to be closed. It was just another self-promotion stunt for the soon to be ex MP for Bassetlaw.

Does he think the voters are so gullible he can continue to feed them his nonsense?

Or even worse, does he actually believe his own propaganda?

If you have had an intimidating letter from John Mann on House of Commons notepaper, or an intimidating email (I know of at least one), you can make a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

You can find the information here

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.

Another Tory Blog, Tory Politico has added some words of encouragement.

Read them here

And I also welcome the link to Mr Mann’s letter from Guido Fawkes at order-order.com

Dizzy Thinks also has the story

Methinks Mr Mann is regretting opening this particular can of worms.

John Mann’s woods, that is.

Respected and widely read blogger, Tory Bear, has lent a paw in this blog’s continuing coverage of John Mann’s struggle against reality.

The article is here but stick around and read the other stuff. Quality material here.

TB rounds off the article with some words of wisdom for Mr Mann.

Don’t be a wanker, John

Prolific Blogger – The Lone Voice – has picked up on John Mann’s letter threatening me with libel action and has published his take on it, together with some very interesting facts about Mr Mann’s expenses claims.

You can read all about it here:

The Rt Hon. John Mann MP is a wanker.

And it’s well worth the read. £2,500 for carpets,  John?

No doubt the author will be receiving his very own libel threat soon.

Mr Mann’s Bill – British Jobs for British Workers introduced under the Ten Minute Rule – is nothing more than a cheap trick to capitalise on a popular issue and grab some votes from the uninformed.

If you want some information on the Ten Minute Rule go to Wikipaedia

Here are some direct quotes:

The vast majority of Ten Minute Rule bills are not supported by the house, and are dropped immediately

Since the Government usually opposes Ten Minute Rule bills, it is extremely rare for them to become law.

Most Ten Minute Rule introductions are used to stimulate publicity for a cause.

The last one is particularly interesting. Mr Mann’s primary cause is self-preservation and he’s cooked up this litte Bill to try and get re-elected. Unless you know what the Ten Minute Rule is, and the likely fate of any Bill introduced under it, you would be tempted to think that the bill was kosher, when in fact it has as much chance of getting support as a BNP candidate in Islamabad.

John Mann knows full well that this Bill is never going to happen, yet he brags about it in the Worksop Guardian and claims support from the Construction Industry.

Draw your own conclusion.

Gordon Brown recently asked voters to ‘have another look at Labour’ before deciding on which way to vote at the upcoming election.

I suggest you do just that, if you MUST vote Labour in Bassetlaw.

You may change your mind about voting for John Mann, though, if you check out this site:

www.bassetlawlabour.co.uk

I personally don’t support anything on the site but it’s an alternative for Labour voters as it claims to be True Labour.

Dear John,

Ever since I published your letter threatening libel action, this blog has had a huge increase in traffic.

The blog is getting so many hits, I’m considering putting adverts on the site to raise a few quid for my election night party.

Please feel free to write as many more letters as you wish.

John Mann’s self-congratulation column in the Worksop Guardian has him bragging about his Bill for British Jobs for British Workers this week.

My Bill for British Jobs for British Workers, which would require contractors to use local job centres and to employ apprentices and maintain skills and training has been well received within the construction industry.

Local job centres. Great idea, as long as you don’t live in Retford, since the Labour government  is planning on closing the Retford Job Centre.

Which is not only a shame for the people of Retford, but it also means that poor Mr Mann will have to travel all the way to Worksop to sign on after he loses his seat in May.

A little bird tells me that John Mann has made a request to Bassetlaw District Council under the Freedom of Information Act to have copies of all emails mentioning his name.

I’ll send a few to the council tomorrow so he has no lack of reading material.

But why he would ask for this is odd, to say the least.

Is he so insecure he has to read other peoples communications to see what they are saying about him?

Just received a letter from John Mann threatening me with a libel action. Click on the graphic below to see it full size.

I don’t recall making any allegations, John, only asking for clarification and pointing to expenses claims on your own website and the Parliamentary website.

If you could point me in the direction of the offending untruth, I would be happy to rectify.

And as for calling you a ‘wanker’, I was just quoting your own statement in the Independent.

I note that you’re not disputing the rest of the content.

I know you’ve sent a number of this type of letter recently to anyone with the temerity to challenge the world according to Mann, but this blog will not be intimidated.

UPDATE

I’ve just discovered that Mann signed an Early Day Motion in December calling for Libel law Reform as the existing libel laws intimidate writers and stifle free expression and need to be changed.

See my post here

Would you vote for a man like this?

John Mann was at it again recently.

He requested a private meeting with Bassetlaw District Council to discuss ongoing issues between the residents of Misson and local employer Tunnel Tech.  Once the meeting had been set up, he then proceeded to write to everyone in Misson inviting them to the ‘public’ meeting. When the council got wind of it, they cancelled the meeting, rightly saying that any public meeting should have all interested parties represented and would be happy to organise this at a future date. Mr Mann was informed in advance by telephone and email that the meeting was off.  The Parish Council Chairman was also informed.

But at the time of the cancelled meeting, John Mann rolled up to the Town Hall with his rent-a-mob and a photographer and tried to gain entry.

WHAT KIND OF BEHAVIOUR IS THIS FOR A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT?

What purpose did coming to a cancelled meeting serve, other than John Mann’s unending quest for publicity?

We have seen this all too often. There is no rational engagement with other parties, no persuasive dialogue to make his argument. He rounds up a baying mob and buses them to whichever meeting he thinks will get him media exposure.

He is in demand as a Labour Rent-a-Gob; his trademark is shouted rhetoric, which, when challenged, is repeated at higher volume ad nauseam. The Beeb love him, but not for the reasons he might think. They are always looking out for politicians to make pratts of themselves.

Little wonder that fellow Members regard him with a mixture of amusement and contempt.

He’s a sorry excuse for an MP

John Mann, always keen to get his name in the media, recently aired his views to the BBC regarding a Tory MP travelling First Class on the train.

MPs need to get out of this mindset that, somehow, we are above the general public, that we are special. Travelling second class keeps you in touch with the general public

A laudible sentiment, except that Mr Mann has been quite happily travelling First Class on the trains himself, as is quite obvious by his expenses claims. See this

We were also sent the following in an email by one of our readers.

Mann actually lives in North Wheatley, just a short drive from Retford which is his usual commuting station. He has been seen comfortably settled in First Class, including on the occasion when he sat in my friend’s pre-booked seat. My friend’s wife didn’t want him to make a fuss during the trip, but he did introduce himself as they both alighted at Retford, as “the guy whose seat you’ve been parked in since London”. Clearly no manners either Mr Mann, not when you’re so very important.

Caught out again, John.

Parliament has published a list of expenses repayments made  by MPs in the period 1st April, 2009 to 18th December, 2009. You can see it for yourself here

There are two entries for Mr Mann and each has a comment added by Mr Mann.

We’ll happily accept the comment on the £10.36 grocery bill, but the other, for £2,395.02, is a bit harder to swallow.

Rather than alter published totals, I have chosen to repay the full amount.

Eh? Rather than alter published totals?? Right. Kiss off £2,300 to avoid inconveniencing a computer.

Is this the same John Mann who, on his website, is asking for donations of a fiver to help fund his election campaign?

Perhaps he is keen to avoid further scrutiny of the actual expenses claimed and is willing to lose the money to cover up something he’d rather the voters did not know.

You would have thought that a proper course of action would have been to reclaim the amounts to prove that they were, in fact, legitimate.  He’s entitled to the money. Isn’t he?

If Mr Mann wishes to give us an account of the expenses, we’ll publish it for all to see. He is, after all, the first one to start screaming at any hint of impropriety in expenses claims and should welcome the opportunity to clarify the situation.

We’ll leave you to decide what to believe.

For the past few days, John Mann’s website has been advising people :

If The Phone Rings On Thursday Evening – Please Answer It!
On Thursday evening (21st January 2010) John Mann MP is conducting an automated telephone poll in Worksop and surrounding villages on the Vesuvius site issue.

Today, he published the results of the poll:

A poll last night, Thursday 22 January of residents living in Worksop, Carlton, Blyth, Langold, Oldcotes, Welbeck has revealed that they are overwhelmingly opposed to Notts County Council’s proposals to cut, privatise and price hike services for the elderly and vulnerable.

Eh? What happened to the Vesuvius site poll?

We think we know. He had a poll running on his website sampling visitor opinion regarding the Vesuvius planning application. When the voting was starting to favour the Council’s decision, it was removed in very short order.

Looks like he’s backing down on Vesuvius, doesn’t it?

We joined up to Facebook and added John Mann as a friend. We then joined his Facebook Campaign on the ASDA planning application. In the hope of sparking a lively discussion, we left a link to this site so participants of the group could see another side of the story.

Our Facebook friendship with Mr Mann lasted all of 5 minutes, after which we were booted out of the Campaign and blacklisted. So much for a lively debate, eh?

Mr Mann has the Worksop press in his pocket – The Worksop Guarding Mann – who will print his spoutings without any regard for the  factual content (if any). In the past, a friendly press has been a great advantage for politicians of every persuasion. But this is a brave new world with the internet allowing alternative views to be published and available to anyone with an interest.

Mr Mann does not like alternative views, it seems.

But, we are all for freedom of speech. Mr Mann is welcome to leave a comment on any of our posts and we will publish it un-edited (providing we are sure of the source).

We’re not afraid of healthy discussion. So, what about it, John?  We know you read this blog. Spare us a few words.

There’s a strange picture on John Mann’s website.

He appears to be making the handsign beloved of motorists throughout the country and reserved for someone who rhymes with banker.

Is he suggesting that if you pledge your vote, donate or volunteer, then you are someone deserving of the gesture?

Well, if he’s not suggesting it, we are.

EDIT: It seems Mann’s web people have seen the errror of their ways and after reading this article, they have replaced the picture. Shame. We liked the original, so we’ll leave it here for your amusement

In the midst of the longest and deepest recession since records began, Labour MPs, including your very own John Mann, voted themselves a nice little holiday for 11 days in February.

If you can be bothered, see Hansard

Nothing like a nice break to take your mind off the country’s problems.

John Mann’s latest self-serving campaign against the Conservative District Council has cost Worksop the chance of a new development and over 1000 jobs.

When the Planning Committee voted against the proposed ASDA development at the old Vesuvius works, Mann saw a self-promotion opportunity and adpoted his default stance of running squealing to the Press, a stance which caused him to be criticised by the Commons Standards and Priveleges Committee recently. He also called a public meeting where he spread his ususal lies and disinformation.

Now, Planning Applications are refused often, when the Committee is unhappy with some aspects of the application. In the normal course of events, the Applicant will lodge an appeal and address the concerns of the Committee and the Application will generally then be granted. However, John Mann has politicised this application, and the result of the application being granted would see John Mann crowing about a great victory that his campaign has had in saving the development.

The members of the Planning Committee will be well aware of this. So what do you think the chances are of this application skating through the appeals process as it probably would have done if Mann had not become involved? None, frankly. Mann’s outrageous action will have the effect of causing the application to be scrutinised to the quantum level and in all probablity being refused.

The Planning Committee refused the initial application for good reason. Now they are being vilified in the Press by Mann, forcing them to justify their quite legal and reasonable refusal and pushing them into taking a hard line due to the added political dimension.

The net result is that this development is now probably lost to Worksop, at least in the short term, thanks to Mann’s actions.

Unless a White Knight can provide a solution.

Today in a House of Commons Debate, John Mann said ” I thank the Minister for that answer, and I know that the ministerial team will be keen to visit Serlby Park three-to-18 school, as it has recently knocked back a Tory council attempt to close it down.”

Erm, didn’t we just explain this, that it was the Labour controlled County Council that put Serlby Park school on the closure list and that it was the Tory controlled council who removed it from any threat of closure?

I’m sure that the pupils, staff and parents of Serlby Park School will be less than delighted to find that their school has once again become an unwilling  pawn in Mann’s continuing efforts at self-preservation (the SELF word again) in the face of a growing Tory vote in Bassetlaw.

How he can possibly believe that misleading the electorate on a regular basis and trotting out the same old fantasies will get him re-elected is astonishing.

Except, perhaps, by those voters who let the Worksop Guardian do their thinking for them. A band of believers set to diminish greatly as that peurile pamphlet is about to start charging the good people of Worksop a fiver to access their website.

Today, Mr Mann wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport asking how many residential properties in Bassetlaw had no television licence at the latest date for which information is available. Presumably he is totting up how many households will not have the benefit of seeing his kisser on the box when he is trotted out by the Beeb for his Rent-A-Quotes. Next step will be to identify those households.

So, if you don’t have a TV licence, our advice is to get a one immediately (even if you don’t have a telly) in case he decides to make a personal appearance on your doorstep.

John Mann, the self-appointed, self-serving, self-righteous scourge of the expenses claimants who made allegations of wrongdoing by Alan Duncan, today got criticised by the Commons Standards and Priveleges Committee  for his lack of courtesy in going to the media before Mr Duncan or the Commissioner with his complaint. The Committee found that Mr Duncan had acted entirely within the rules and Mann’s allegations were unfounded.

Running his mouth off to the press is a favoured pastime of John Mann, earning him the sobriquet of Rent-a-Quote. The fact that his comments are often without foundation bothers him not a jot as long as he can see his name in print or his smirking face on the telly.

John Mann writing about the Kelly report in the Indpendent on Wednesday opened the column with:

‘You w*****, you f****** w*****’, exploded one Tory MP to me today, ‘You do not speak for me.’ Indeed I do not.

That about sums it all up. Mr Mann only has his own interests at heart.

Rent-A-Quote specialist John Mann was at it again on the Beeb last night, endorsing the Kelly Committee’s recommendations on MP’s expenses “lock, stock and barrel”.  One of the many recommendations is that MP’s will no longer be able to employ family members on the Government payroll. Hmm. The cycnical amongst you might suggest that Mr Mann’s ‘I’m-squeaky-clean-on-expenses’ stance is nothing more than a bit of skin saving and that he is quite prepared to sacrifice his wife’s job on the altar of self-preservation. There was no suggestion by him that one of his employees, Joanna White, is doing a good job and should not be a casualty of the expenses conflict. That’s right, Joanna White is Mrs Joanna Mann. If he is really serious about his stance, he will fire her now, today, and set an example. Let’s see if he will put his wife’s money where his mouth is.

Whatever else Mr Mann is, he is not daft. He is well aware that the previously safe Labour seat in Bassetlaw is now anything but safe and he stands to lose in May 2010 (or maybe sooner if Pa Broon continues on his hapless course – would you like a biscuit, Pa, to give you energy for the u-turns?)

He loses no opportunity to jump on whatever bandwagon he thinks will ingratiate him with the voters.

There’s an interesting post on the blog ‘The Lone Voice‘ highlighting a bit of Mann double talk.

There is a letter in this week’s Worksop Guardian entitled ‘Mann is just misleading us’

The letter is reproduced in full:

I see that MP John Mann has, yet again, been trying to mislead local residents over planning issues.

As both a local resident and planning professional, I get very irritated when straightforward processes are twisted for what I assume are political ends.

Maybe it’s an attempt to cover up the fact that he has no ideas of  his own about how he thinks his Government’s housing targets (that’s right – they’re imposed on local councils from above) should be met.

I’ve read the same documents he talks about, and they don’t show major development in the villages or propose this Kilton development he keeps banging on about.

So let’s keep things in perspective, shall we, and stop this underhand campaign of disinformation.

Just what we’ve been saying all along!

The recent ‘campaign’ by John Mann MP to stop closure of Serlby Park School by the Big Bad Tories was yet another example of ignoring the facts in favour of a bit of self-serving publicity.

Due to the  (at the time Labour Controlled)  County Council having an over-capacity of school places in Bassetlaw, the administration commissioned a report to look at ways to match places to demand. One of the options was closure of Serlby Park School. By Labour.

The current Conservative administration has removed any threat of closure of Serlby Park School as it was just not a viable option.

Mr Mann’s actions and disinformation led to an anxious time for parents and pupils in the area.

Remember this at the next election.

John Mann is claiming credit for being the whistleblower on the MPs expenses scandal in a recent article in the Mail.

Oh, really?

I am sure that John Wick, the man behind the expose, will be interested to hear that he needn’t have bothered since Mr Mann was already on the case.

For the TRUTH about the whole sorry affair, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5370852/John-Wick-I-am-proud-to-have-exposed-expenses-scandal.html

John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw and purveyor of political fiction, has got himself a nice line of patter to confuse the voters.

First, he invents a scenario which is never going to happen (such as the building of 10,000 houses at Kilton Forest) then starts a high volume campaign against it.

When, inevitably, the scenario does not come to fruition, Mr Mann claims credit for campaigning against it and a victory due to his endeavours opposing the mythical project.

Does he think that Bassetlaw voters can’t see through this?

However, new house building is a worry for Mr Mann as several thousand new residents arriving in Bassetlaw with the wherewithall to purchase housing  may well dilute the traditional Labour vote, making his position as an MP decidedly dodgy come election time.

So consider his real motives when he challenges new residential properties.