From The Sunday Times
April 26, 2009
Labour guru’s daughter Georgia Gould in new dirty tricks row
Georgia Warren and Abul Taher
THE party chairman in a safe Labour seat targeted by the 22-year-old
daughter of a party grandee has complained that the bitter contest broke
election rules.
In a letter to constituency members obtained by The Sunday Times, Frank
Lerner, the Erith and Thamesmead Labour chairman, said that some of them
had been “harassed” in their homes to apply for postal votes in breach
of party rules.
One member claimed this weekend that a canvasser for Georgia Gould,
daughter of the Labour peer Lord Gould, had turned up on his doorstep
with a postal vote application filled in with his name and address.
The battle for the seat has been marred by allegations of unfair
tactics. Last weekend the hustings were postponed after a ballot box
containing postal votes at Labour’s headquarters was found to have been
tampered with.
Lerner outlines in his letter how Labour headquarters intervened in the
process. Some of the party’s most senior figures – including Alastair
Campbell and Tessa Jowell – are backing Gould’s campaign.
Gould’s supporters are alleged to have encouraged members to apply for
postal ballots. Mohammed Iqbal, 21, claimed yesterday that one had
visited him with a postal application filled out with his name and
address. “I thought that sounded strange,” Iqbal said. “When I asked her
[who she was supporting] she said ‘Georgia Gould’.”
Gould has denied any knowledge of her supporters unfairly encouraging
members to apply for postal votes.
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