John Hemming
 John Hemming     | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 1960-03-16 | |||||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford | |||||||||||
| Party | Liberal Democrat | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
John Hemming is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liberal Democrat Party representing the constituency for Birmingham, Yardley from 2005 to 2015.[1]
Twice defeated
At the 2015 General Election, Hemming lost Birmingham, Yardley to Labour's Jess Phillips by 6,595 votes.[2][3] Hemming stood again as the Liberal Democrat candidate in his old seat at the UK/2017 General Election,[4] but was again defeated by Jess Phillips who increased her majority.[5]
Child sex abuse allegations
In 2015 Esther Baker falsely accused John Hemming of being part of a VIP paedophile ring that abuse children in Staffordshire in he 1980s and 1990s. Staffordshire police refused to prosecute Baker for perverting the course of justice, claiming there wasn't sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.[6]
In January 2019 Hemming successfully brought libel cases against Graham Wilmer, of the Lantern Project charity and David Hencke, a journalist who worked for Exaro. The pair paid over £10,000 between them after having admitted defaming Hemming on social media in relation to the false abuse allegations.[7]
Criticising Labour
John Hemming criticised his political opponents from the Labour Party such as MP Jess Phillips for promoting the false allegations against him. He stated:
- "Some members of the Labour Party, including my opponent in the last two General Elections, have invested considerable time in promoting these allegations. The promotion of the complainant as an expert in this subject area as a consequence of these allegations has caused additional difficulties for my family."
Hemming went on to note:
- "I am not myself aware of another situation where members and supporters of a political party have promoted such allegations in such a public manner – essentially arming the villagers with torches and pitchforks and setting off on a lynching. There were public attempts to prevent me from standing as a candidate because of allegations made maliciously by a Labour Party member backed by other members of the Labour Party."[8]
References
- ↑ "TheyWorkForYou website", accessed 4 August 2010.
- ↑
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- ↑
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{{URL|example.com|optional display text}} - ↑ Ross, Alex. "MP hits out at decision not to prosecute sex abuse 'fantasist'". www.expressandstar.com.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ Evans, Martin (27 January 2019). "Former MP falsely accused of abuse wins libel action" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ Team, i (5 September 2017). "Former MP reveals he was falsely accused in sex abuse case". inews.co.uk.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
