Unite general secretary candidate Howard Beckett has opponents worried, if the level of the smears thrown at him by both Establishment media and supporters of other candidates.
Skwawkbox already showed Beckett dismantling the smear that he intends to wind down the union’s unique ‘Community’ section – when in fact he plans to build it up and empower its members. But on Sunday night, while other candidates have avoided scrutiny from members of the union and the labour movement, Beckett appeared on Socialist Telly to face a ‘no holds barred’ grilling over every one of the smears.
In the first of a series of excerpts from the discussion, Beckett takes on one of the most scurrilous and frequently repeated – that he was fined for taking money, when he was a solicitor, from compensation payments to sick miners. Unsurprisingly, the smear is a lie:
Watch the full interview on the Socialist Telly YouTube channel here – and watch out on Skwawkbox for the rest of the series of clips addressing each specific barb aimed at him.
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So what was he fined for then in connection with the miners compensation cases? If it wasn’t unauthorised deductions, was it padding his bill? What was it? This looks/sounds like half an answer.
Lord Bach – The Solicitors Regulation Authority has provided the following information concerning 68 solicitors from 14 solicitors firms:
Cases pending hearing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for alleged professional misconduct in the handling of cases under the British Coal respiratory disease litigation and British Coal vibration white finger litigation:
Beckett, Bemrose & Hagan, Wirral—listed 12.05.09
Alan Hagan, Howard Roberts Beckett, Marcus Peter Bemrose
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2009-05-19/debates/09051977000648/BritishCoalCompensation
“Lord Bach
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has provided the following information concerning 68 solicitors from 14 solicitors firms:
Cases pending hearing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for alleged professional misconduct in the handling of cases under the British Coal respiratory disease litigation and British Coal vibration white finger litigation:
Beckett, Bemrose & Hagan, Wirral—listed 12.05.09
Alan Hagan, Howard Roberts Beckett, Marcus Peter Bemrose.
There are no outcomes and no fines registered not to Howard not the firm.
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/person/?firstName=Howard&lastName=Beckett&sraNumber=17136
https://www.solicitorstribunal.org.uk/judgements-list?field_case_no_value=&field_case_no_year_value=&field_sra_id_value=17136&field_hearing_outcome_value=All&field_hearing_type_value=All&field_hearing_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=&field_resp_parties_first_name_value=Howard&field_resp_parties_last_name_value=Beckett
skellyknelly – If you check you’ll see that the solicitors listed on Hansard as being tried, convicted and sentenced don’t appear in this search tool either. Why I don’t know. However what I do know is that it has been widely reported that Beckett was fined £5,000 (his colleague Bemrose was fined £2,000). To try and claim otherwise would be ridiculous.
I don’t think ridiculous at at all, I can only see The Times when searching anything that clams the he was found guilty and fined everything else just repeats lawd whatshisname.
MSM Reports are not evidence of Guilt, Case Numbers and Convictions are.
That SRA does list those struck off ‘at least’! But the fines are elusive! The search must continue!
If he is guilty, he would be pretty stupid at this stage to deny guilt/involvement. He knows the Miners are a touchy subject in the Movement and he know we will need proof in either direction.
SteveH
In all my time on here that is the poorest response I’ve seen from you
There is no evidence from a reliable source
Apologise to Mr Beckett
Doug – Beckett could settle this for once and for all by publishing the tribunal papers detailing the charges against him and the tribunal’s findings.
SteveH
In the meantime you have smeared Mr Beckett on NO evidence so apologise
Doug – Most people would regard Hansard as a reliable source.
If Beckett had given a full and reasonable explanation at the weekend when he had ample opportunity to do so then we wouldn’t be discussing this now,
I will apologise when and if HB exonerates himself by publishing the tribunal papers that show the charges against him and the tribunal’s outcome. It is within Beckett’s power to clear this up once and for all by publishing the tribunal papers.
Good question PC. I think the fact that none of us can easily find out what Howard Beckett and his two partners/colleagues have supposedly done wrong (misclaim, overcharge, whatever) tells us that they are the target of a smear – a smear that cannot even present a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Timeboxed) accusation.
He was fined for missing a deadline for a notice to go out to the registered miners. He also put in his own money to make good cash taken by an employee having a breakdown to ensure the miners didn’t miss out and to avoid her going to prison. A missed deadline has been presented as a fine for taking cash, typical right-wing smear that any campaign claiming to be on the left should be ashamed or vomiting up.
Why didn’t he explain all this at the weekend, he had plenty of time?
This bizarre thing document pops up on several websites, it is way too random for my short attention and lack of real interest in this waffling, apart form linking the name Beckett to Fine and even here it does not.
http://1407131726.srv042181.webreus.net/rdk9sh/howard-beckett-miners-6bff2a
On YouTube Howard quite clearly states that he was asked by the Miner’s Association to help, He also states that The Miner’s Association wrote a Letter to The Executive Council to explain the situation.
Of Course his Practice would be under investigation even if the only helped 10 clients, right at the claims deadline.
From YouTube:
Well, listen, I will give a little bit of a story behind the miners because I
03:18 y
was never really tremendously involved in miners compensation. I was very
03:23
friendly through a trade union comrade with the Durham Miners Association and
03:28
Davey Hall and a couple of his comrades and particular Jackie, who’s who’s still
03:34
going is wonderful man. And David Davey Hopper contacted me and asked me at the
03:40
very last minute, there’s a limitations period approaching for these cases. They
03:44
only had about a month to get over and he had some housebound members who
03:49
couldn’t get out, couldn’t get the solicitors. And he approached me he
03:52
asked me if I would go and do house visits for these miners who were at the
03:57
cusp of limitations and I agreed to, but it was never never anything of any major
04:03
area for the law practice. It was only ever about 100 miners that we looked
04:07
after, we looked after at the request of Davey Hopper. So whenever these lies
04:11
first appeared in the press, and which was all very well constructed in order
04:17
to avoid any potential for defamation cases, which I’ll come back to Damo. But
04:21
whenever these lies were first constructed in the in the right wing
04:24
media. It was raised at our executive council and Davey Hopper very kindly
04:29
wrote a letter to the Executive Council outlining how I came to look after
04:34
miners and obviously putting right the lie in respect of whether or not any of
04:39
the miners’ compensation compensation had been taken by by my practice at the
04:43
time, which obviously it had not.
Lies and smears seem to be the only thing we can expect from the right.
They clearly have nothing but contempt for ordinary people, whom, they assume, will believe any old rubbish.
Hopefully some of us can learn from Howard’s willingness to take on these deliberate deceptions, and thus clear the ground for real debate, which is around the issues which concern us.
He deserves every success.
Good point Ludus. I’m glad that Beckett is confronting the smears too. Makes me remember some of Allan Howard’s excllent posts defending Jeremy for not confnting his smearers as party leader (which I believe was right). I suspect even Jeremy Corbyn would back Howard B for chalenging the smears against him. Different situation.
It’s not just the right at the moment. Supporters of other so-called ‘left’ candidates are spreading them and should be ashamed of themselves
Have we got any “Proof” that he wasn’t fined that we can shove up their nostrils and some of their arses? Something conclusive, The letter from Davey, The Case against his Practice’s Result as per:
“Lord Bach
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has provided the following information concerning 68 solicitors from 14 solicitors firms:
Cases pending hearing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for alleged professional misconduct in the handling of cases under the British Coal respiratory disease litigation and British Coal vibration white finger litigation:
Beckett, Bemrose & Hagan, Wirral—listed 12.05.09
Alan Hagan, Howard Roberts Beckett, Marcus Peter Bemrose.”
I did this search:
There are no outcomes and no fines registered not to Howard not the firm, and not to those who were actually Fined.
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/person/?firstName=Howard&lastName=Beckett&sraNumber=17136 and several others, is there anywhere we could find the outcome of This Case:
Beckett, Bemrose & Hagan, Wirral—listed 12.05.09
Alan Hagan, Howard Roberts Beckett, Marcus Peter Bemrose.
skellyknelly – Surely HB could just publish the relevant documents, I’m surprised that he hasn’t already done so.
There might not be anything to post, if we can’t find the charge there may not be evidence of a pardon, nothing to Pardon. If you look at the Google search descriptions they mostly look like this:
http address
Article Web Link
28 Jan 2021 — List of companies where Howard Roberts Beckett holds … … biggest union, was fined £5,000 for his role in the miners’ compensation scandal.
So you get his Name: List of companies where Howard Roberts Beckett holds … followed by the break … … but read it as one line puts his name to the second part … biggest union, was fined £5,000 for his role in the miners’ compensation scandal. which in the article does not mention his name nor does it point at him.
I really hope Howard can hit this thing and shut it the fuck up, with something hard fact, it looks like wildfire on Twitter and I don’t even use the damned thing!
Here’s an extract from a contemporaneous report:
“Solicitors were paid on a fixed-fee scale that reached £2,023 per claim, figures the high court ruled in 2007 were considerably higher than would have been allowed in a normal court assessment of costs.
The government could not have known this at the start, but it failed to put a review clause in the agreement.
…… it emerged that a minority of solicitors were deducting extra amounts from ……. damages. The culprits fell into three camps – those who took the money as so-called success fees, those who gave the money to third-party claims handlers and those who deducted the money for the miners’ trade union.”
So the “fine” could have been for any one, or more, of these possibilities –
Repayment of some of the fee that the government allocated which was subsequently found to be too high.
Charging for services which were already covered by the fees from government.
Paying a fee to “third-party claims handlers”.
Paying a proportion of the payout to the NUM.
It seems that the legal firms involved had to repay according to the actions they had taken, plus repaying sums from the government overpayment. Since Beckett had to repay £5000 and he dealt with around 100 cases, this was a “fine” of around £50 per case. I can’t find out what the overpayment recharge was. Furthermore, it seems that Beckett’s firm was subcontracted by another company which couldn’t complete all that it had undertaken to complete. Feels like some people are making a mountain out of a molehill here.
No. Not suggesting that it was a glitch or an oversight. I’ll continue to search. To date I’m not sure if the “overcharge” went to the solicitors, to a “third-party claim handler” or to the NUM. None of them would have been right (otherwise nothing would have come of it) but only one of the three possibilities would have been a case of seeking profit for his own firm. If I can find out which it was I’ll post it.
Okay so hes innocent just like everyone doing time and the five thousand pounds fine was a “glitch” was it?Typical Lawyer “wast me its just a oversight” We all make mistakes,but not with the miners compensation fund you don’t…!
We can probably say much the same for all professions/trades, Human Nature is a Queer Old Thing! I don’t think a thing as a Typical Human exists in any way shape or form look at the loving fathers/husbands who go out to do their jesus bible/church collections only to be found out years later they were psycho serial killers, Faa…Fa, Fa..Faa, probably in the name of jesus! We are all just the same, random and weird as fuck, some just allow too much of their dark side in.
He was fined for missing a deadline for a notice to go out to the registered miners. He also put in his own money to make good cash taken by an employee having a breakdown to ensure the miners didn’t miss out and to avoid her going to prison. A missed deadline has been presented as a fine for taking cash, typical right-wing smear that any campaign claiming to be on the left should be ashamed or vomiting up.
On another subject
Latest cost of Lockdown is toddlers cant speak
FFS
And before lockdown some primary school children weren’t able to use a knife & fork, some unable to wipe their own backsides as well as others having poor linguistic skills.
Not the parents’ fault in every case pre-covid. . UC/tax credit/ childcare conditions for the low-paid being utterly shite.
The Toffee
Please don’t deny the costs of taking a sledge hammer to crack a dry roasted
Never thought. Maybe that’s why Johnson is so incoherent.
Why should lockdown stop toddlers speaking, you loony ? If their mothers , etc, are locked down at home too , the constant enhanced mother /child, or grannie/grandad/ father/ interactions should actually IMPROVE language development . Only a toddler locked in a room alone, or with mute parents and grandparents, will not automatically develop language, you loon, Doug. The very strange anti-Semite and male chauvinist, Doug, the serial covid denier, shares his bonkers Trumpian anti lockdown wisdom !
Like Boris Johnson, Doug agrees completely with the crazy ‘let the bodies pile up in their thousands before another lockdown’ mantra that currently bedevils Johnson ! . This is the ‘let covid rip and keep everything open’ ideology , that led to circa 60,000 or so unnecessary deaths in the UK, because of the slow move to each of our three absolutely essential lockdowns by the Tories . The consequences of NOT having rigorous periodic lockdowns can be seen in the current covid deaths disasters in Brazil and India and Mexico City !
You are a sad, irresponsible, serial covid denier, Doug. ! Joined by too many other conspiraloon posters on Skwawkbox. A tragic waste of a potentially useful Left discussion space. Sadly, most Skwawkbox comments nowadays – punting various ignorant conspiraloon obsessions, simply discredit the above the line reporting of Skwawkbox .
Listen jpenny you loon, we didn’t have the lockdowns here here in Vietnam you Zionist racist loving halfwit, because rigorous track trace and isolate was introduced at the beginning. Had slavering halfwit Johnson and his “team” who you seem to like so much followed their example things would have been very different . Sadly the phenomenon of children arriving at early school lacking the basics of speech and simple social and physical skills is only too well documented, so wind your neck in.
Covid being discussed honestly, by the left. I look forward to hearing that.
One wonders what other policies of the Chinese Communist Party meet with bad penney’s approval!
Half Penny
5 million waiting for hospital treatment
500,000 more than a year
The NHS imploded the day universal lockdown was announced, everything else stopped functioning
The economy was trashed, everyone under 80 imprisoned to save the 0.1%
For the love of God you thick prick can you not see it did not have to be like this
Neanderthal man does Public Health
Sweden
The waiting list was growing alarmingly pre-covid for fucking fuck’s sake dougal.
The (mis- or non-) use of of nightingales (Which should’ve been specifically for covid patients) and you say fuck all about that but pile all the blame on lockdown and those who favoured caution, you crank.
Nobody had fuck-all critical to say when the Chinese locked down… And they LOCKED DOWN.
That saved lives – and to fuck with their economy, (which is all a money trick anyway)
The prevailing opinion of the neo fascist Western governments was one of “it’s an oriental illness, well be fine’ until it wasn’t.
You’re of the same mindset as de piffle’s, trump, and that utter nuckfugget bolsonaro.
Just shut up.
Regarding the Beckett video #2.
Something wrong with being irish and angry? I’m English and I’m angry.
Instead of being roped in by what z list celebrity’s shagging which other z list celebrity or what-have-ya, the same gullible dumbed-down to brain-dead populace ought to stop saying ‘wow’ at kardashian’s fat arse getting fatter at a cost of seventeen squillion dollars and start pulling their heads out of their arses and realise theirarses will never grow as fat if they continue to allow themselves to be laughed at as well as fleeced by the glitterati, the media and corporates; nevermind the clowns in westminster.
OTOH, If he wasn’t angry…
Rant over…for now.
Are these Kardashians, Ukrainian correspondents for News Night or Talk Radio? I know nothing of them.
Exclusive: Turner, Graham dodge hustings with Beckett, organised by Unite Community members
“All the candidates attempting to gain the required number of branch nominations have been invited to a live online hustings to be held by Socialist Telly – which is run by Unite members – next Monday evening, 3 May.
Has Coyne been invited to take part?
Should he be?
If so, how does his profligacy and petulant, spoilt wee bastard cryarsing warrant his inclusion? He was roundly rejected in the last election contest as well as almost the entire judiciary telling him to get bent.
Tpffee – Yes, of course he should be included. Are ‘the left’ scared of him, Contrary to your ‘assertions’ Coyne came close to ousting McCluskey in 2017.
Sonktd be ‘undemocratic’ NOT to include him, is that what you’re telling us?
And Corbyn came within something like 3000 votes of becoming PM as I recall…
‘Almost’ just doesn’t cut it.
Toffee – It worried McCluskey enough for him to quickly change the nominations criteria for prospective candidates and thus make it much harder for anyone to challenge him.
My mistake, it was around 2,200 votes. That was for the entire electorate of the UK.
Whereas McCluskey beat shittyarse lying whinging coyne by around 6000… From just a trade union’s membership.
Further proof that when it comes to REAL democracy, you haven’t the first friggin idea what you’re talking about.
So take your ‘almost’ and cram it.
Coyne is a shithouse; it’s of no great surprise to see you fight his corner.
So? coyne’s there again, like a turd that won’t flush (bit like yerself) and coynes campaign included wilfully misleading info, didn’t it?
A bit like Keith’s. Once again, it’s no surprise to note you’re putting up a case for the rodent.
Well he didn’t pick his icon pic by accident. They stick together, you know!
timfrom – You are right, I didn’t choose it by accident. At the time that I chose my icon picture various individual on here were asserting that I was a guinea-pig for taking the vaccine so I chose the picture of a guinea-pig to take the piss.
Nice try but you’d been using it for a while before I called you a guinea pig. I think you couldn’t resist advertising yourself!
Yeah.
And most definitely NOT a reflection of you acting like a shithouse rat.
Toffee – WGAF about your infantile playground nonsense?
Well it’s only too apparent that you do.
And it’s only ‘infantile playground nonsense’ because it’s demonstrated your self-owning.
Now, allow me to enjoy the rest of my popcorn while watching you go into another of your irrelevant fabricated delusions, like how Bevin and Attlee were remainers…
Toffee – Unlike you I don’t need to make stuff up. Be careful not to choke on your popcorn.
So it’d be*
Toffee – See above at 9:20pm
plus
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/21/len-mccluskey-re-elected-leader-of-unite-union-jeremy-corbyn
Still want to know what you believe warrants coyne’s inclusion before I bring meself to further peruse any more of your bilge.
Toffee – That’s easy the article clearly states All the candidates attempting to gain the required number of branch nominations have been invited to a live online hustings to be held by Socialist Telly – which is run by Unite members – next Monday evening, 3 May.
If it says ‘All the candidates’ , then why are you asking?
Toffee – I would have thought that was obvious, have you actually read the article?
What was Coyne’s response to his invitation?
The article clearly states that “Unite candidates Steve Turner and Sharon Graham have refused to participate in a debate” and that “Beckett, by contrast, had immediately accepted the invitation” but no mention is made anywhere in the article about Coyne.
You may think differently but I doubt that SB would have neglected to tell us about Coyne’s response (or lack of) had he been invited.
As things stand at the moment Beckett will be debating himself.
Oh, don’t even bother – we already know anyway.
coyne’s an even bigger shithouse than keith, therefore he’s better than the best of a bad bunch.
You really are one godawful, simpering little shite.
Toffee – Oh dearie, dearie me. I see the penny has dropped that you were making a fool of yourself.
Dafuq are you babbling about now? If the article says ALL the candidates were invited then i take it as read – alright, knobcheese?
I wasn’t the one misread it because I didn’t see coyne’s name. You did because you had. I couldn’t give a flying one whether he’s been invitied or not. It’s a shrewd bet that those organising the event don’t want him there or at the very lweast would prefer his absence.
But it gives YOU the chance to relentlessly fucking whinge as loud and as pettily as the prick himself. You’re the expert at that.
Now, answer the question. You saying coyne ISN’T a shithouse? You’d happily allow someone – found to have wilfully misled voters last time about – have their say this time round by your incessant whining for the gobshite.
But I’m the one ‘making a fool of myself’. What a dozy prick you are. Dearie, dearie me.
Toffee – “I couldn’t give a flying one whether he’s been invited or not.”
Thanks for the detailed explanation of how little you care.
But knobby that’s just the point – I DON’T care.
You’re the one so eager as to if the lying, spoilt little shite gets to have his say… I won’t be bothering to tune in whether he does or not.
Understood?
Now, answer the question as to WHY you’re so eager coyne should take part?
No?
Then shut your godawful whining hole, the fuck up.
SteveH30/04/2021 AT 7:18 PM
Toffee – Unlike you I don’t need to make stuff up.
No. Just the one about how those that have us the NHS were all remainers.
…And no. I won’t. I’ve done THAT one to death, too.
*Gave (not Have)
Toffee – It doesn’t say much for the veracity of your argument when you have to prop it up with lies. Where do you live La-La Land.