35. Letter to Mr Rikki Radford from
Councillor Geoff Walker, 12 October 2003
Further to current reports in the press, a couple
of weeks ago I received a telephone call from a Newsnight research
assistant, whose name escapes me, claiming to be researching into
Iain's constituency work. They were enquiring as to the ease of
contact I had with Iain and I confirmed that I had fairly frequent
communication with him, both when he is in the constituency and
by telephone when the occasion demands. I made the point that
Iain still spends a considerable amount of time looking after
his constituency and worked very hard to maintain local contacts.
She went on to ask if I had any contact with Betsy.
I confirmed that most contacts were during visits here in the
constituency when she accompanied Iain. On being pressed for more
information, I also confirmed that on several occasions Betsy
had contacted me by phone to ask if I would attend a function
as Iain's representative as he was unavoidably prevented from
attending due to prior commitments. These were usually events
such as annual St. Georges Day Parades for the Scouts, and similar
functions. (These requests were made to me as Leader of the Group,
hence similar approaches to other members would have been unlikely.)
On being pressed further for more details, I explained
that this was a little while ago and that lately, contacts with
Iain had been either direct by telephone to Iain, or through yourself
or Christine Watson at the House of Commons.
I trust this information will clarify the contacts
made.
12 October 2003
| 
