Clee100 52%

Excuse me, @ZiaYusufUK? You call me “disgraced”. I was the victim of discriminatory laws in the 1980s & later falsely accused of serial child murder & sexual abuse. The only disgrace here is your attempt to weaponise those injustices for political point-scoring & blind loyalty. You call me “depraved” simply because I disagree with you. I have nothing to apologise for. I have consistently said that no one should speculate about the motive for Ann Widdecombe’s tragic death while the police investigation is under way - including politicians. I appreciate you feel obliged to defend your party leader. But the rule of law, justice - & respect for Ann’s memory - must come before party loyalty. Respecting the police & the rule of law is not disgraceful; it is the responsible course of action. Moreover, @Nigel_Farage is perfectly entitled to his views. Equally, I am entitled to mine. What he & his colleagues are not entitled to do is seek to silence or abuse those who express a different opinion. Calling me “depraved” because I criticised Mr Farage’s public speculation is no substitute for reasoned debate. Ann, a lifelong champion of free speech, would never have resorted to such personal abuse. As someone who describes themselves as ‘shadow home secretary’, I thought you’d appreciate all of the above.

It turns out I did have the Whip taken off me yesterday despite no one having the courtesy to talk to me. Some thoughts on what it means for me (tl;dr sad, but won't stop me speaking my mind) and what it says about @KemiBadenoch linkedin.com/posts/gavinbar…