Conduct of Ms Emily Thornberry
1. We have considered a memorandum by the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards relating to a complaint made in March
2006 by the Leader of Islington Council, Councillor Steve Hitchins,
against Ms Emily Thornberry, Member for Islington South and Finsbury.
The Commissioner's memorandum is reproduced in the Appendix.
2. As the Commissioner explains in his memorandum,
the complaint is that Ms Thornberry altered an electronic copy
of an Electoral Commission news release by inserting a quotation
from herself before forwarding it to the news media in a form
which suggested that it remained an official Commission release.
Councillor Hitchins also asserted that Ms Thornberry was attempting,
in the quotation, to associate the Commission with a party-political
campaign by her and local Labour Party members on the record of
Islington's Liberal Democrat administration on electoral matters.
3. Prior to considering the Commissioner's memorandum,
we invited Ms Thornberry's comments on it. She has indicated to
us that she did not wish to submit any further evidence.
4. As the Commissioner points out, there is, in essence,
no dispute about the facts underlying the complaint. Ms Thornberry
accepts that she had added a quotation from herself to the body
of an Electoral Commission press release which it had sent to
local newspapers in Islington, and had then sent the new text
to the same papers under cover of an e-mail from herself. The
dispute lies over how the facts, and Ms Thornberry's actions in
particular, are to be interpreted.
5. Councillor Hitchins, as the terms of his complaint
demonstrate, clearly attributed a partisan political motive to
them, and in particular to the involvement, on Ms Thornberry's
initiative, of Councillor West in the Electoral Commission photocall.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the Electoral Commission, as it
now recognises, was not then fully aware of the sensitivity of
registration issues in Islington, and thus issued, with its press
release, a supporting photograph which included Councillor West,
rather than just the two Islington Members of Parliament.[1]
6. This issue is, however, peripheral to the main
issue, which is whether by adding, without the approval of the
Electoral Commission, a quotation from herself to a Commission
press release which it had sent to the local press, and sending
the new version to the press herself, Ms Thornberry breached the
Code of Conduct.
7. There is no doubt that the appearance, in what
was apparently an official Electoral Commission press release,
of a quotation from a Labour Member of Parliament, raised doubts,
at least in Councillor Hitchins' mind, as to the impartiality
of the Electoral Commission in relation to a politically sensitive
issue in Islington. The precise nature of her comment, which he
saw as misleading, enhanced these doubts. The Electoral Commission,
for its part, did not consider her action acceptable: it would
have expected any comment to be included in a Commission press
release to be cleared with it beforehand. It also considered that
the quote was "misleading".[2]
8. Ms Thornberry maintains that her primary motive
in adding the quotation was to support the Electoral Commission's
campaign to improve response rates. The quotation was not in her
view misleading. Her purpose in adding it was to increase local
press interest in the Electoral Commission's release. She saw
her added quotation as enhancing the prospect of the press release
being of sufficient interest to the local press to merit publication.
She accepts, though, that it would have been better if she had
spoken to the Electoral Commission before acting as she did, and
told the Commissioner that she has now altered her office procedures
to ensure that a similar situation does not arise in future. We
welcome this.
9. In the event, neither the Electoral Commission's
press release, nor the version sent by Ms Thornberry appears to
have been used by the local newspapers in Islington. There also
appears to have been very limited coverage by them of Councillor
Hitchins' complaint.
10. We accept, as the Commissioner did, that Ms
Thornberry's primary motive was to support the Electoral Commission's
campaign to improve response rates, and consequently levels of
voter registration, in Islington, which is self-evidently in the
public interest. We agree with him, though, that she was at the
least unwise, as she now accepts, to add her quotation to the
Commission's release without its permission. As he said, her actions
"are not to be condoned".[3]
11. The Commissioner has very carefully analysed
the three principal grounds of the complaint advanced by Councillor
Hitchins, and takes the view in each case that the facts do not
demonstrate a breach of the Code. We agree with him that, despite
being both unwise and unfortunate, Ms Thornberry's actions did
not amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct. In particular,
as the Commissioner has pointed out, there is no evidence of any
intention on her part to deceive or manipulate the public, nor
was that the effect of her actions. We do not therefore uphold
Councillor Hitchins' complaint.
12. We nonetheless take this opportunity to remind
Members that they should not issue press releases with added comments
from themselves, particularly press releases originated by public
bodies, without being clear that the originator wishes them to
do so. If they have any doubts, they should clear the proposed
comments with the originator before issuing their own version
of the release. Had Ms Thornberry done so in this case, the grounds
of the complaint against her would not have arisen.
1 WE12, p. 35. Back
2
WE12, p. 34. Back
3
Appendix, para. 49. Back
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