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Lying Lib Dem owns up   » Permalink  |  TrackBack (0)

Last April in the run-up to the local elections Political Hack reported this:

Five years ago, Naim Ahmed was a Labour candidate for the Aston ward in Birmingham and seemingly a safe bet to win a council seat. Then the party discovered some question marks over his receipt of disability grant money and dropped him like a hot potato. One election petition against the eventual Labour victor later - which was unceremoniously thrown out of court - and Naim Ahmed starts his waltz between parties in search of a seat. First he went to the PJP and then he joined the Liberal Democrats - ever the home of the opportunist. Now, he's resurfaced as their candidate in Aston this year and his determination to win is such that he's returned to the lawyers and had his name changed to ensure that his is the first name on the ballot paper - worth an extra few votes. In Australia, where voting is compulsory, being atop the paper is a bonus because of the 'donkey vote,' where people go in and vote for the first person on the paper just to discharge their legal duty.

Mr Ahmed, sorry Aehmed, denied this vehemently, saying:

'It is not true that this is all a trick... I changed my name by deed poll more than a month ago and Saeed Aehmed is the proper spelling. It is the name I am always known by.'

Birmingham Lib dem MP John hemming rushed to the defence of his colleague with this typical piece of pseudo-scientific bluster:

Aehmed is a known and correct (but not frequent) transliteration from the Arabic (remember his name is originally Arabic as are all Muslim names).

Last week in an election court, according to a report in The Birmingham Post (sadly, not online) Mr errm, Aehmed, was questioned by Gavin Millar QC:

"If someone says that it is a cheap political trick to get to the top of the ballot paper, you can't complain about it."

When pressed on whether he had changed his name both to give it the proper pronunciation and to get above Mr Afzal, [the Labour Party candidate] Mr Aehmed replied "yes".

Asked why he failed to admit this at the time, Mr Aehmed replied, "For political reasons I didn't mention it."

Mr Millar then queried if Mr Aehmed had any worries about "deceiving the electorate" to which Mr Aehmed replied "no sir".

Well, I think that is one Lib Dem statement we can all agree is probably true. In all probability Mr Hemming is currently composing an explanation which will establish beyond doubt that the words "no sir" are in fact a log established Arabic phrase meaning "I wouldn't dream of it, mush."