Todmorden News

Hebweb Campaign Against Labour Candidate?

Controversial local Labour Party candidate Steph Booth continues to be pilloried and undermined in local blog posts and news articles following Janet Oosthuysen’s rejection by the Labour National Executive.

Since revelations in the press about Miss Oosthuysen receiving a police caution following criminal damage to her ex-boyfriend’s property and alleged romantic involvement with a Tory councillor, there has been a groundswell of local support for the popular but unsuccessful candidate. This support appears to be manifesting itself as a local mud-slinging campaign against the second choice candidate Steph Booth, who is stepmother to Cherie Blair and resides in Todmorden with her husband Tony Booth.

Since early 2009, local ‘community’ websites such as Hebden Bridge Web have been republishing any and all of the most negative media concerning Steph Booth, going as far as to continue to disseminate press articles which were withdrawn for their libelous content. It is understood that the Hebden Bridge Web has a longstanding and extremely close relationship with both Janet Oosthuysen, and the other unsuccessful local Labour Party candidate, Susan Press. Allegations elsewhere on the web suggest that Susan Press was in fact the source of a damning article about Steph Booth which appeared in The Daily Mail

References to, and quotes from press articles concerning Janet Oosthuysen’s police caution and cross-party relationship, which appeared to spark the controversy in the first place, are conspicuous by their absence from the Hebden Bridge website.

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Discussion Forum Topic: Steph Booth