I have had to take this post down for the moment because Isabella Freeman has sent me a letter threatening to sue me for libel. Any lawyers out there who might want to help me, please get in touch.
UPDATE – Aug 15, 4pm
The Evening Standard has today published the following apology to Isabella Freeman in relation to the article it published on May 2 and which I copy and pasted on here that day. I made further remarks based on the Standard’s article which I removed following a threat of legal action from Ms Freeman. Given that the Standard has withdrawn its article, I am happy to repeat and agree its apology here and withdraw the comments I made which had been based on that article.
Here is the Standard’s apology:
On 2 May we reported allegations that Isabella Freeman, the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal Services) and Monitoring Officer of Tower Hamlets, had shown a lack of care about alleged voter fraud in Tower Hamlets and, on the contrary, was involved in a deliberate cover-up.
We accept that those allegations were untrue and any suggestion that Isabella Freeman had not overseen the correct procedures was wrong. She has, in fact, taken steps so that the council has the most robust systems and processes permitted within electoral law to ensure the integrity of the electoral register and identify any malpractice. Tower Hamlets electronically scans 100 per cent of postal votes and rejects any that have non-matching signatures. The article also incorrectly stated that Ms Freeman had blamed Muslim voters for the claims by others of voter fraud in Tower Hamlets. We apologise to Ms Freeman.
