The legal tussle over Phil Woolas’ election campaign has unearthed more information on how the Labour MP fought for his seat.

The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Woolas’ campaign team put out leaflets titled: ‘Lib Dem pact with the devil’ and ‘Targeted: militant extremists go for Phil Woolas’.

Other ‘stories’ in a newspaper-style leaflet were titled: ‘Lib Dems in mosque planning permission stitch-up’ and ‘Straight talking Woolas too fair for militant Muslims’.

It says Mr Woolas’s team “allegedly hatched a plan cynically to exploit racial tension in Oldham”.

Some of the attacks on Mr Watkins were simply puerile, such as an article about his supposedly fake Lancastrian credentials, headlined: “Eh up – nowt nicer than Lancashire tripe tha nos”, while others were allegedly downright underhand, including a doctored picture of the Lib Dem alongside two policemen allegedly to make him appear “corrupt”.

But when it was thought that such an approach was not working, a different tack was adopted.

Mr [Joseph] Fitzpatrick [election agent] emailed Steven Green, the MP’s campaign adviser, to say: “Things are not going as well as I had hoped … we need to think about our first attack leaflet.”

He proposed publishing a newspaper-style mailshot, called The Saddleworth and Oldham Examiner, with the alleged main aim of persuading Tory voters, many of whom disliked the fact that the Conservative candidate was Muslim, to vote Labour rather than switching to the Lib Dems.

“Tory voters are talking of voting Lib Dem,” wrote Mr Fitzpatrick in an email to Mr Green on April 25. “If we can convince them that they are being used by the Moslems it may save [Woolas] and the more we can damage Elwyn the easier it will be to stop the Tories from voting for him.”

The emails show that the Woolas campaign team then started to focus heavily on the Muslim angle.

A twin-track approach was allegedly adopted: Mr Watkins would be portrayed as a friend of Islamic extremists, while Mr Woolas would be painted as a fearless opponent of militants. Mr Fitzpatrick suggested to Mr Green: “We need to go strong on the militant Moslem angle,” and suggested the headline: “Militant Moslems target Woolas.” This would send out a message, he suggested, that Muslim extremists wanted to “take down” Mr Woolas for standing up to them.

“Like it!” replied Mr Green in another email. “It’s going to be hard to write to minimise offence to some though.”

A reply by Joseph Green said, “We need … to explain to the white community how the Asians will take him out … If we don’t get the white vote angry he’s gone.”

Another leaflet published the day before the election suggested the Libdem candidate was being backed by groups that had issued death threats against Mr Woolas, according to Mr Watkins’ legal team.

The leaflet said it was the, ‘Lib Dem pact with the devil’.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   More details emerge over Woolas' campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

2. John West

   RT @libcon: More details emerge over Woolas' campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

3. sunny hundal

   More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

4. Jae Kay

   RT @sunny_hundal: More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

5. Tom Copley

   RT @sunny_hundal: More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

6. Derek Bryant

   RT @sunny_hundal More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

7. meral hussein ece

   RT @sunny_hundal: More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

8. Aled-Dilwyn Fisher

   Woolas, whether found guilty in court or not, should be kicked out of Labour & never allowed to work in politics again http://is.gd/fa2FQ

9. Gus Baker

   Just seen Woolas leaflets. Repulsive. Should be kicked out of the Labour Party. http://bit.ly/bquELs

10. Sanjay Samani

    RT @libcon: More details emerge over Woolas' campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

11. ed marsh

    RT @gusbbaker: Just seen Woolas leaflets. Repulsive. Should be kicked out of the Labour Party. http://bit.ly/bquELs

12. Gus Baker

    @wesstreeting enjoy http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/09/14/more-details-emerge-over-woolas-campaign/

13. Tom Copley

    @wesstreeting http://bit.ly/bQq4t3 Take a look at this and see how you feel then.

14. Aled-Dilwyn Fisher

    @wesstreeting What would that change? Look at the leaflets here and tell me how this man can call himself a Labour MP http://is.gd/fa2FQ

15. Aled-Dilwyn Fisher

    @gedrobinson Allegations? See here for the clear, overwhelming and indefensible evidence http://is.gd/fa2FQ

16. Emma

    RT @meralhece: RT @sunny_hundal: More on how Phil Woolas ran his disgusting election campaign http://bit.ly/bQq4t3

17. SOCIALIST UNITY » PHIL WOOLAS - A DISGRACE TO THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

    [...] details here from Sunny Hundal; and worth a look at the ElectionLeaflets.org website to see more of the filth that Woolas was [...]

18. Ian Andrew Barker

    RT @gusbbaker: Just seen Woolas leaflets. Repulsive. Should be kicked out of the Labour Party. http://bit.ly/bquELs

19. Lord Lindley

    http://bit.ly/bquELs Labours Woolass leaflet. What scum labour have in their ranks. @bevaniteellie @uklabour

20. ANN COOPER

    RT @LordLindley: http://bit.ly/bquELs Labours Woolass leaflet. What scum labour have in their ranks. @bevaniteellie @uklabour

21. Sam Mannion

    @MaizeyR No worries! This link's also probably a bit better. http://bit.ly/bquELs

22. Made by Labour – Phil Woolas and Labour’s immigration policies « Aled-Dilwyn Fisher

    [...] that has suffered greatly from racial divisions, as The Daily Telegraph reports (highlighted by Liberal Conspiracy): Mr [Joseph] Fitzpatrick [election agent] emailed Steven Green, the MP’s campaign adviser, to [...]

23. thabet

    More details emerge over Woolas’ campaign http://ht.ly/2Efn9

24. Edd Bogle

    http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/09/14/more-details-emerge-over-woolas-campaign/ And there's more there.

25. Gus Baker

    Disgusted to see that @progressonline have Phil Woolas speaking at their fringe. See Islamopbic leaflets here : http://bit.ly/bquELs