Member News
By Tony Grew - 23rd August 2011
A Labour MP has written to Mr Speaker calling for Lib Dem John Hemming to resign from the Commons.
"Mr Hemming has abused parliamentary privilege and should resign," John Mann said on his website.
"He clearly has a psychological obsession with the breaking of court injunctions and is not fit to be an MP."
On 26 April, on a point of order, Hemming claimed that Vicky Haigh, a horse trainer and former jockey, "was the subject of an attempt by Doncaster council to imprison her for speaking at a meeting in Parliament".
Yesterday Judge Sir Nicholas Wall ruled that Haigh had wrongly claimed her former partner David Tune was a paedopile, during a custody battle over their daughter, known as X.
"Allegations of sexual abuse were first made by the mother and not by X," Sir Nicholas said.
"These were false and the mother knew them to be false.
"X was coached by the mother to make allegations of sexual abuse against the father.
"These proceedings have had a serious effect on the life of the father and have threatened the stability of the child."
Hemming's decision to raise the case was one of several instances of his use of parliamentary privilege to intervene in legal proceedings.
Mann said Hemming used privilege "to break a court injunction".
Haigh was Mann's constituent at the time.
He accused the Lib Dem of "a gung ho attitude to the breaching of court injunctions on the floor of the House".
In May Hemming was condemned by a string of MPs, including his own party leader Nick Clegg, when he used parliamentary privilege to name Ryan Giggs as the footballer at the centre of a row over super injunctions.
Giggs obtained a gagging order that prevented newspapers from reporting allegations that he had an extra-marital affair.
The deputy prime minister said: "I don't think anyone should be above the rule of law, and if we don't like the law we should act as legislators to change the law and not flout it."
Hemming was told off by the Speaker for identifying Giggs when the attorney general Dominic Grieve responded to an urgent question on the use of super injunctions.
"Occasions such as this are for raising the issues of principle involved, not for seeking to flout orders for whatever purpose," Speaker Bercow said.
He later added: "I strongly deprecate the abuse of parliamentary privilege to flout an order or score a particular point...it is important, however, that we recognise the need to temper our privilege with responsibility."
Article Comments
Phew! I was worried with all the serious news this summer, the usual silly season stories wouldn't make it. A Labour MP is happy to oblige...
Ed Butcher
24th Aug 2011 at 8:56 am
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
Anajinn
16th Sep 2011 at 3:43 pm