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Labour is accused over poll 'smears'
By Paul Waugh, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 12.08.04Labour was accused of " outrageous" tactics today in the by-election to replace Peter Mandelson after it claimed that the Liberal Democrat candidate "made excuses for junkies".
A senior Labour MP said Jody Dunn, the Lib-Dem candidate for Hartlepool who is a practising barrister, was "soft" on drugs because she had represented a heroin addict in court four years ago.
But MPs warned the attack went beyond normal political point-scoring, and lawyers' leaders protested that barristers' views should not be linked to those of their clients.
The Bar Council said barristers have to take whatever case is allocated to them, regardless of their views.
"It's not fair to attack a barrister on the basis of the client they act for. The cab-rank rule means that they take the next client that is allocated to them," a spokeswoman said.
The row is the first indication that the Hartlepool byelection will be the most bitterly fought yet.
The poll, which is likely to take place in October, was triggered when Mr Mandelson was appointed as Britain's next EU commissioner in Brussels.
