Press Release 009

#009 21st August 2001 For immediate release

BEGINS

Kenneth Clarke, MP: Vote rigging, anti-democracy and poisoned children - the nightmare that has returned to haunt a Tory leadership candidate

• 1985: The 'free' vote that was rigged by the Government
• The treachery of John Major, proposed supporter of Ken Clarke
• Disgraceful scenes in the House - prominent Tories condemn Government Bill

Perhaps Ken Clarke thinks that 16 years is a very long time in politics. Perhaps so long that most long-serving MPs will have forgotten the disgraceful scenes of vote-rigging and sleaze that plagued former Minister for Health, Ken Clarke, and his Party's attempts to force through a controversial Bill on public health in 1985.

Background:

It was late in 1984 that this Bill, conspicuously unannounced in that years Queen's Speech, was introduced to the House. By early 1985, the Bill in question had passed it's third reading on a rigged vote.

The Bill in question was the Water Fluoridation Bill, 1985. During the debates that took part in the early months of this year, some of the following condemnations were made of Ken Clarke, vote-rigging, turncoat MPs such as John Major, and the sleaze that exposed a desperate Government which would stop at nothing to get it's way.

For further on the events of 1985, and the consequences, see;-

• 1985 Water Fluoridation Bill (debates, the Water Fluoridation Bill, 1985)
• John Major (re: John Major - and the MPs duty statement at bottom of page)
• News Index (includes stories of children poisoned by fluoride)
• Dental Fluorosis (pictures of dental fluorosis)

The consequences of Ken Clarke becoming leader of the Conservative Party, and just perhaps a future prime Minister, are too awful to contemplate. A man who has displayed no shame for the conduct of the Government's tactics of 1985, the man who would deny the general public the right to a democratic vote on fluoridation, the man who had to force a Bill through Parliament on the back of a rigged vote and a man who has shown no concern for the consequences of his actions, is NOT a man who should not be trusted in any capacity. And yet this is the man that some Tories think is fit not just to lead the Party, but also to lead the Country.

ENDS