A Victory For Decency

The Gurkha vote today should send shock waves through the Government and across the country. It's the first time that a Government has lost to an opposition day motion in 30 years. It shows that the prime minister is fatally weakened and it can only be a matter of time before Labour ditch him. However far more importantly, it shows that Parliament can do the right thing. A cynical and jaded public can rightly take great encouragement from this. I'm delighted and immensely proud that the Lib-Dems forced the issue on this, and I will give credit to local labour MP Nick Palmer who joined the rebels.

Labour Apology

Nick Palmer MP has apologised, both personally and publicly, for smearing me in a recent e-mail. he now accepts that the claim that i advocated aid for the Taleban was wholly untrue and, faced with the threat of a legal action that he could not possibly win, he has offered an unreserved apology. The text of Dr Palmers apology reads:

"In my last e-mail I said that David Watts had said that we should have sent aid to the Taleban. I accept that he did not say this and what he actually said was that we should have sent aid to Afghanistan. I accept entirely that David was referring to the people of Afghanistan, and not to the murderous and misogynist Taleban, and I withdraw unreservedly my previous comment and apologise to David for the distress caused."

I'm delighted that this matter can now be regarded as closed and that my reputation has been fully vindicated.

Smeared By Labour

Well I never thought that I would be the subject of a Labour smear e-mail, and especially not from an MP who claims he's above that sort of thing, but that's what's happened. My local Labour MP has sent out an e-mail around the constituency claiming that I said in a debate that I thought we should have sent aid to the Taleban. This is completely and utterly untrue, and what's more he knows it's untrue because when he suggested to my face that this was what I'd said I corrected him and he accepted that.

What I did say, and stand by, is that instead of invading Afghanistan we should have sent aid to the Afghan people. Our local Labour MP disagrees. He's entitled to do that. He voted for war when I'd have voted for peace, and I have no problem with him saying that. However to claim that I had said that we should send aid to what he describes as "the murderous and misogynist Taliban" is nothing more than a downright lie. I have insisted that he makes a full and unreserved apology and withdraws the smear immediately. We'll wait to see whether he does.