In my interview with Sayeeda Warsi, the chairman of the Conservative Party and minister without portfolio, in this week’s New Statesman, she makes a remarkable claim about the extent of electoral fraud at the last general election.
From the piece (not yet online):
“At least three seats where we lost, where we didn’t gain the seat, based on electoral fraud. Now, could we have planned for that in the campaign? Absolutely not.”
This is the first time a senior minister has made such a blunt and specific allegation about the impact of electoral fraud on the general election result. Can she reveal the names of those seats? “I think it would be wrong to start identifying them,” she says, but adds: “It is predominantly within the Asian community. I have to look back and say we didn’t do well in those communities, but was there something over and above that we could have done? Well, actually not, if there is going to be voter fraud.”
I asked Warsi if she believed the Labour Party in those three seats had benefited from the alleged fraud. Her answer?
Absolutely.
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The BBC has followed up on my interview and spoken to a Labour Party spokesman who says the claims are “unsubstantiated” and urges the Tory chairman to share any evidence she has with the authorities.
Watch this space.
UPDATE:
Over on the Mirror site, Kevin Maguire writes:
If she has evidence of ballot rigging, Baroness Warsi has a public duty to produce it. Democracy is precious and must be protected at all costs. If a number of MPs are sitting in the House of Commons without electoral legitimacy, we need to rerun those contests. So Baroness Warsi must go public. And if she doesn’t, I’ll draw the conclusion that the petulant peer’s just shouting her mouth off again.
ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie has also blogged on the story here.
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