Anthony, Ultimately it probably is. I received a copy of John Whittaker's e-mail to the NEC from G L-W this morning. It appears to be real. It has gone, presumably, to G L-W's e-mail address list.
There are lots of other assertions that GL-W believes to be true, but as he has got one wrong to my knowledge concerning the fact that the issue of the John West video is a police matter, rather than one for the Information Commissioner (s60 DPA), I have not posted the whole e-mail here. That's why I asked the question.
It seems that the leaked e-mail is real and that G L-W has a direct link to the NEC, which I think most of us knew or guessed in any event.
The problem I see is that the issue is moving too fast for the NEC or the party leadership to react. My interpretation, and I do not practice law as you know, of s55(1) DPA is that an offence has been committed by someone and that if John West goes to the Information Commissioner then a fine, probably very heavy, could be incurred by UKIP's data controller or the party or another individual or all 3.
The alleged John Whittaker e-mail suggests monumental incompetence at the highest level. It is not well crafted and is not sufficient to stop John West, I would guess, from pursuing the matter. There is no indication that the party has apologised to John West in person and that there is no indication that they have sought to get the material off Youtube, although I haven't checked the link this morning. In any event the BNP have copied and circulated the link and it is probable that several thousand people have now seen the interview - most will be within the Eurosceptic movement and many will know John West personally. This increases rather than mitigates the problem as John West is potentially humiliated within his own community.
This is a mess. It requires strong leadership and resolve to knock the issue on the head quickly. At the end of the day Whittaker's comments about Annabelle's missing laptop don't stack up as GL-W has pointed out. The laptop was lost in London on an unspecified day at an unspecified time and returned a few days later having been accessed by a 'third party'. My girlfriend had her laptop nicked and had reported it to the police within 5 minutes of discovering the fact. I would guess the laptop contained a lot more than one interview, yet the person who looked copied John West's interview, but not Nigel Farage's or that of another well known person.
Somebody somewhere is telling big, big fibs and somebody senior ought to fall on his/her sword. UKIP cannot afford to be fined for an offence under the DPA.
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When in Woking do as the Wokes do.
"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008
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