Character

It is a fairly short list, since I left the party before the introduction of unitary local government.

But although the level of acquaintance ranges from "once or twice" to "mother of two of my oldest friends" and "35 years, friend of my late father's, served with me for many years as a Parish Councillor and a school governor", the following current Labour members of Durham County Council had ever met me on the day that I was charged:

Councillor Lyn Boyd, Stanley;

Councillor Joanne Carr, Burnopfield and Dipton;

Councillor Malcolm Clarke, Delves Lane;

Councillor Ivan Jewell, Burnopfield and Dipton;

Councillor Ossie Johnson, Lanchester;

Councillor Carl Marshall, Stanley;

Councillor Linda Marshall, Chester-le-Street West Central; and

Councillor Olga Milburn, Tanfield.

Unless and until he or she publicly states otherwise, then each of the above hereby assents to the following as a matter of public record:

"It is morally impossible for David Lindsay to have committed the offence alleged against him, and his trial for which is due to begin at Durham Crown Court on Wednesday 6th December 2017. That would be my testimony under oath in a court of law."

I was not going to call all of these as character witnesses, but since none of my 32 character witnesses from politics (including both Houses of Parliament), the judiciary, the clergy and elsewhere is to be called, then we are now in a different situation.

By the way, people do not necessarily know that they are going to be called as character witnesses. That is not how being a witness works. You are just called, and then you just have to turn up, take the Oath, and answer the questions. Five of the above would have been called, although they did not know that, since I can have no contact with them under the terms of my bail. But so what?

At least one of the senior clergy has simply sent in his statement, anyway. I do not know, however, who will ever see it. I have not done so.

The above and others need to consider the disrepute into which Durham County Council, the Labour Group on it, and the Labour Party in general, are being brought by the action against me. They need to re-examine the highly questionable circumstances of Simon Henig's improbable assent to the Leadership. They need to liberate County Hall from the Occupation under which it has laboured, so to speak, since 2008.

One effect of that action is the ongoing delay in launching, due to the ongoing difficulty in securing funding for, a popular magazine that will carry a weekly column by the Leader of the Labour Party, reaching a mass audience. How can the people who are obstructing this project, and that by criminal means, retain membership of the Labour Party?

Were it not for them, then The Weekly Standard, complete with Jeremy Corbyn's column, would already have hit the newsstands, or would very soon be doing so, bringing Corbyn's message, and those of other figures such as Richard Burgon, to the fans of popular television, of pop music and of football, the length and breadth of the land.

Corbyn needs to act against them. He is not the only one.

One page of The Weekly Standard will be given over to spiritual reflections, one of their three authors per week will always be a Catholic, and one of those per month will be the Preacher to the Papal Household. That is confirmed, while we are waiting with great hope to hear that one page per month will bring reflections from each of the three churches in Gaza; Henig will have been passed the emails.

All in all, that is more than enough reason for him to wish to bulldoze the foundations of this magazine. But also more than enough reason for the community here, and the Labour Party here and elsewhere, to wish to bulldoze him.