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?