It appears likely that there will be an election rerun for the parliamentary seat of Oldham East and Saddleworth.
An election court has found that the current labour MP knowingly published untrue statements about his opponent in order to gain an unfair advantage.
As a result, the court has barred Mr Woolas from politics for a period of three years. This is the first judgement of its kind in almost a century.
The court’s decision is subject to appeal, but a spokesperson for the labour party stated that even if the appeal is successful, there will be no future for Mr Woolas in the party because of his conduct.
What Mr Woolas has done is to transgress one of the Ten Commandments; “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour”.
These are the Ten Commandments that have underpinned the British constitution and rule of law for many generations but which in our own day are being undermined and ignored in the apparent belief that they are out of date and no longer relevant.
In practice, the Ten Commandments are timeless and there are many ways in which British society is paying a heavy price for attempting to sideline them. For example, they speak out against greedy human nature; “Thou shall not covet”, which ultimately led to our present economic difficulties.
Similarly, the Ten Commandments forbid sex outside of marriage; “Thou shall not commit adultery”. It is to a large extent because we have ignored this commandment that we see so much sexually transmitted disease, so many unwanted pregnancies and so much family breakdown.
Of course this is going well beyond the actions of Mr Woolas but it demonstrates that he is not all that exceptional. None of us are above criticism.
It is perhaps worth remembering the words of Jesus Christ as recorded by Matthew when Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment. He said,
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)
If only we tried a little harder to follow the words of Jesus, our society, our nation and even our world would be a much better place.
For more on this and to learn what it can mean for you, see our article on ‘How Can I be Saved’.
