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Dec 2023

Last Updated: 12/12/2023

Politics

Andrew Jones MP accuses Lib Dems of covertly targeting his movements

by John Plummer

| 12 Dec, 2023

Andrew Jones MP has accused Liberal Democrats of covertly following him after his car was photographed in Harrogate without valid MOT.

Mr Jones has written to Lib Dem leader Ed Davey claiming the Harrogate and Knaresborough party has "gone off the rails" and is a "rogue political organisation".

He has also contacted the police because of concerns of a breach of the nationwide security programme Operation Badger, which was set up to protect MPs in the wake of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016.

The Lib Dems have described his claims as "unsubstantiated" and called his attack "bizarre".

Mr Jones' intervention comes after the Stray Ferret published an article last month showing his car parked in Starbeck without valid MOT.

We were sent the photo from a person calling themselves Mrs T Neale, Lady Blueberry Blower of Ripon Town.

The Conservative MP said at the time he was "embarrassed by my oversight" but his letter to Mr Davey, seen by the Stray Ferret, says it "appears I may have been followed to a remembrance event" and this was "a covert act".

It adds it was part of a pattern of behaviour.

The letter says:

"We can disagree on policy. That is normal in politics. But none of these things have been about policy. When the police have had to be involved I am sure you recognise that something has gone very wrong with standards.

"Your Liberal Democrat association in Harrogate and Knaresborough is a rogue political organisation.

"It is operating in an underhand and dishonest way. This is not merely a problem with one individual at one time. It is a systemic issue where within the organisation the norms of political discourse have been supplanted by attacks on the individual, anonymous briefings, campaigns to plant messages about me surreptitiously on social media and even the attempted weaponising of a person who most believe had severe mental health problems."

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Mr Jones' letter said he first met the Lib Dems chief whip in 2013 about local political opponents "publishing lies about my expenses" and thought at the time "this behaviour was a one-off act of silliness – maybe even a mistake".

But he said he had now concluded that subsequent actions indicate it can't be anything other than "locally inspired by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat association which has simply gone off the rails".

The letter adds:

"These actions span a period of 10 years so it is clear that the behaviour is ingrained into their ways of working.

"Quite simply, this is a political organisation that has gone rogue."

The letter was copied to Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

A spokesperson for the Harrogate Liberal Democrats said in response to Mr Jones' claims:

"If Mr. Jones feels strongly about these unsubstantiated claims, then we would point him to our party's independent complaints process.

"This is a bizarre letter, and surely it would be far better to have an MP focused on the issues which matter to local people, including a lack of NHS dentist appointments and a hospital with a crumbling roof."

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Andrew Jones MP accuses Lib Dems of covertly targeting his movements

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