Resign, fight by-election, MP urged amid libel row
ACALL has been made for Gower Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi to resign and “fight a free and honest by-election” after a Twitter user apologised and agreed to make a “substantial” payment for making a false allegation about her Conservative predecessor.
During the 2017 election campaign Dan Evans claimed the Tories’ Byron Davies, who won Gower in 2015 by just 27 votes, was under investigation for electoral fraud. Ms Antoniazzi won the election with a majority of 3,269.
Mr Evans has made a full apology and admitted he “wanted him to lose”. It is understood he agreed to make a “substantial contribution” to a charity of Mr Davies’ choosing.
In a packed House of Commons yesterday, Conservative MP Steve Double made the case for a by-election.
He said: “Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. The Prime Minister, I am sure, will be aware of events that happened in the Gower constituency in last year’s election where the Labour activist Dan Evans is admitting spreading lies and libellous accusations against our former colleague Byron Davies in order to influence the outcome of the election.
“It appears his efforts worked. Does the Prime Minister believe that the leadership of the Labour Party need to make very clear that our democracy has no place for this sort of behaviour and does she believe that the honourable thing would be for the new incumbent of that seat to resign and fight a free and honest byelection?”
Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Davies had “lost his job as a result of the action that was taken”.
However, Ms Antoniazzi said neither she nor her team had acted in a “dishonest manner” and raised concerns for Mr Evans.
She said: “I am extremely worried about the news [that] youth worker Dan Evans has been made to pay a considerable amount in damages... The image that Dan tweeted was not originally posted by him and he has been punished for his naivety in this matter.
“Dan has a young family to support, [is] on a low salary [and] runs a foodbank and supports refugees, and having to pay out significant damages, when common sense should have prevailed and an apology would have been sufficient, is just cruel...
“Dan offered to apologise unequivocally to Byron Davies in public on Twitter but this was not sufficient for the former MP.”
She added: “I am extremely disappointed that it is being implied that I, or part of my team, acted in a dishonest manner in the 2017 election when this is quite frankly not true.”
When asked if he would run if a
by-election took place, Mr Davies said: “I’d have to speak to Mrs Davies first.”
He does not expect a re-run of the election and was caught by surprise when Mr Double made the intervention during Prime Minister’s Questions.
He said: “I didn’t know Steve was going to do that but that’s very noble of him. It reflects the feeling that it does interfere with democracy.
“Nobody minds having a good verbal battle face to face – that’s what politics is all about. But not what happened in Gower and indeed, in other constituencies as well.”
He was not impressed by Ms Antoniazzi’s remarks, saying: “I wouldn’t even bother responding to it – it’s
such a low argument that she offers in response. All I can say is that Dan Evans should have thought about the consequences of his actions before he posted it,” adding that he had to “pay the price”.
Mr Davies is confident that online attacks affected the result of the election and said other false claims had also been made about his wife.
He said: “The extent of it [was] just unbelievable... These people hide behind anonymity.
“They don’t reveal who they are. They are very, very nasty.”
Mr Davies said he was stopped in the street by voters and asked if it was true he was under investigation. He said he received emails and letters from people who said they were
“disgusted”.
He said: “You have to make a stand against it. You’ve got to.”
Online smears, he believes, are distorting politics and had a “great effect” on the campaign. He fears people are being put off entering politics because of the likelihood of online attacks.
Mr Evans stated on his Twitter account: “I made defamatory statements about Byron Davies during last year’s election. I wanted him to lose and tweeted saying he was under investigation for electoral fraud.
“This was untrue & I’m sorry for my actions. I’d urge others not to repeat my unacceptable conduct.”
■ Comment : Page 32