Rise and fall of controversial MP

FROM predicting the breakdown of the Church of England to accusing asylum seekers of “playing the system”, Phil Woolas has never been afraid to court controversy.

The 50-year-old father of two made the history books last week when he was cast out of the Labour Party following a court hearing based around a law that hasn’t been used for 100 years.

Elwyn Watkins, the Lib-Dem candidate whom Mr Woolas beat by 103 votes to win the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the May general election, said Mr Woolas had gone too far with his election leaflets.

Judges decided in favour of Mr Watkins and ruled that Mr Woolas had won the seat by lying to constituents with claims that Mr Watkins had links to extremist groups and refused to condemn those who advocated violence against Mr Woolas.

The leaflets also claimed that Mr Watkins had gone back on his promise to move into the constituency.

The ruling made at the civil case will be passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who will decide if any criminal laws have been broken.

There will now be a by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, with the Lib-Dems having already named Mr Watkins as their candidate.

Mr Woolas will get no backing from the Labour party and he has launched an appeal to pay for his legal action.

The constituency now has no MP and Mr Woolas must immediately cease work he was doing for members of the public.

His parliamentary career began when he was elected for the constituency in Labour’s landslide victory in 1997.

Mr Woolas, who holds a BA degree in philosophy from Manchester University, retained his seat in 2001 despite a push from the far-right British National Party following the Oldham riots.

He was appointed a whip following the election and rose to deputy leader of the Commons in 2003.

In 2005, he was promoted to local government minister with responsibility for race relations.

He hit the national headlines while in this post when he called for a Muslim teacher to be sacked when she refused to remove her veil in the classroom.

He also caused controversy when he said that first cousin marriages in the Asian community were causing birth defects.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Mr Woolas as his immigration minister in 2008.

Less than a month into the job, he floated the idea of a 70 million population limit and launched a stinging attack on the government’s previous record of removing failed asylum-seekers.

He accused lawyers and charities working for asylum-seekers of “playing the system” and said most of their clients were not fleeing persecution but were economic migrants.

His comments led to him receiving a custard pie in the face from pro-migration protesters during an appearance at Manchester University.

And he shocked members of the clergy by predicting the disestablishment of the Church of England in an increasingly multifaith society.

But despite his much-publicised gaffes, Mr Woolas was seen as an effective minister in getting across the message that Labour was determined to get immigration under control.

His hard man image was tarnished, however, when he was cornered by actress Joanna Lumley at the BBC’s Millbank Studios.

Miss Lumley staged an impromptu press conference where a visibly uncomfortable Mr Woolas could only nod along when she issued her demands for Gurkha veterans rights to stay in the UK.