A Lying MP Should Not Be an MP

Should politicians be allowed to lie to the voters in their (prospective) constuency? One would assume that such a question would be but a rhetorical one. Yet as the BBC reports, today two High Court Judges sitting in a special election court in Saddleworth - the first such court to be convened in nearly a century - had to tell a politician that lying is wrong. Phil Woolas MP, the Labour shadow immigration minister, has been ejected from Parliament as a result of the ruling that he had knowingly lied about his Lib-Dem opponent Elwyn Watkins. During the general election campaign Mr. Woolas charged his opponent with wooing the support of Islamic extremists and that Mr. Watkins did not intend to live in the constituency. Mr. Woolas, of course, is challenging the judgment and the Guardian quotes him as saying that the decision would "chill political speech."

Now I'm sorry to be crass, but Mr. Woolas is just being silly here. This decsion does nothing to "chill" anything. Knowlingly telling an untruth is what normal people call a lie, and we teach children that lying is wrong and that one shouldn't do it. Lying is not part of acceptable political intercourse and Mr. Woolas knows that. If he doesn't he's manifestly unqualified to represent anyone in Parliament. He's definitely allowed to fight the ruling on the merits, by claiming that he didn't in fact lie about his opponent, but not by spreading these horror stories about impending judicial totalitarianism.

Politicians have but one duty to their constituents and that is to inform them of the facts as they understand them to be true. The truth in this case is paramount. If a politician lies to the voters, they cannot make an informed decision on who is to represent them. I understand that politicians are hardly saints and angels and that they spin and twist and twirl the facts to help them get elected, but they should never be allowed to get away with an outright lie. The voters of Oldham East and Saddleford have the right to have their representatives be honest with them and as such deserve a new election.

Under the judgment passed down today Mr. Woolas is barred from standing for Parliament for three years and will not be participating in the by-election. Hopefully politicians will take notice of this and think twice before lying in elections. Even if they get away with it at the polls, they will be rightfully be hounded until caught. It would be better if Mr. Woolas were to be judged guilty in the court of the people on election day, but the court of law is a close second.