I totally missed the Chris Williamson High Court judgment last week. What a mess. It's not a total win for the Labour Party (as The Times headline suggests). bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
To understand the judgment by Mr Justice Pepperall you have to get the odd chronology:
1 27 Feb - Williamson suspended
2 26 June - Williamson reinstated
3 9 July - NEC un-reinstated him after public pressure
4 3 Sep - NEC launched new investigation and re-re-suspended him (!)
1 27 Feb - Williamson suspended
2 26 June - Williamson reinstated
3 9 July - NEC un-reinstated him after public pressure
4 3 Sep - NEC launched new investigation and re-re-suspended him (!)
Mr Justice Pepperall was pretty unimpressed with Labour's "nuanced" explanation for the 9 July un-reinstating.
He found this aspect of the decision making to be unlawful, i.e. Williamson should never have been sent back into supsension as there was now power under the rules to do so
But he did find that the new disciplinary case launched on 3 September (when he was suspended on different grounds) was lawful and should run its course.
The problem is that whatever the outcome it can't really take into account the 27 Feb case as that has been decided
The problem is that whatever the outcome it can't really take into account the 27 Feb case as that has been decided
Again, this shows that Labour's disciplinary processes are a mess and too prone to interference on the basis of public pressure.
