Senior Telford Labour councillor launches legal action against Lucy Allan MP

Party top brass in the borough said they had not received the apology they asked for in an open letter to the MP made public at the end of last week.

It comes after Ms Allan sent a statement to the Shropshire Star to address allegations made by ex-employee Arianne Plumbly, who had at the time been signed off sick.

Most employers have difficulties with staff at some point and MPs are no exception. Given the level of media coverage around this issue I thought I should set out the facts.

Katie Woodland, 34, never worked for me. She worked for Telford Conservatives for six months from October 2014. She left her employment of her own volition to work for an MP, and then left that position after a brief period.

Along with many others, Katie worked very hard to get me elected. Despite no longer working for Telford Conservatives, she attended the election night count in May 2015 with her sister. She also attended my 'thank you' party for all supporters in June 2015. I was very appreciative of her efforts. We parted on good terms, with a hug. I know she was disappointed to fail to win her council seat and not to be offered either a position within the Conservative Party, nor in Parliament subsequently.

From June 1 2015 to September 29 2015, Arianne Plumbly, 26, worked on a six month contract for me in my Telford office. She too had been disappointed in failing to win a council seat in May 2015.

During Arianne's employment in Telford, I worked in London four days a week, with one day a week attending events in Telford. I saw Arianne on a handful of occasions during the four months of her employment. Her allegations of bullying are unfounded. She was dismissed early from her six month contract on the grounds of her conduct, performance and absenteeism.

The first I heard of her complaint was from the media. If there were genuine grounds for a bullying claim, she would have followed the usual channels available to all employees.

The tape recording Arianne released to the media followed an incident in September 2015, where she failed to turn up for two days in a row for an important pre-planned induction session with a new member of staff. She then failed to turn to up a third day in a row to a constituency surgery. She did not notify anyone that she was not attending and she would not take calls on her mobile. My office told me that she had been into work, and was not sick. However, I was told she had objected to her computer being moved and had walked out in a "huff."

While it was certainly human to be frustrated and exasperated by Arianne's conduct, it was wrong to express that frustration as I did, and I have apologised for this.

Arianne did not inform me, or anyone in my office that she had any kind of 'condition.' She attributed her regular absences to minor ailments, like sunburn and nausea. When she was invited to a meeting to discuss her performance, absence and conduct, she arrived with a sick note citing 'stress.'

I do not know why Arianne contacted the Conservative Party and the media concerning her allegations. I was Arianne's employer not the Conservative Party.

Despite the way that both Arianne and Katie appear in the media, I cannot believe they wanted to cause distress to the hundreds of good, kind supporters who gave up their time voluntarily and worked so hard, as part of a fantastic team to achieve so much for Telford. Although I understand their personal disappointments, I do not believe either to be spiteful or malicious. I wish them both well for the future.

The statement also appeared on her website for a short time yesterday morning.

Katie Woodland, who says she was Ms Allan's campaign manager for six months, has also criticised the MP, calling on her to resign after claiming she had been treated with "little respect". In her statement yesterday, Ms Allan said Katie Woodland had never been employed by her.

The legal threat from the Labour Party followed a 559-word Facebook post from Ms Allan last week which was deleted just a couple of hours after going up.

In the post she "named and shamed" a number of people, some of them serving councillors, who she claimed had made her life hell since unseating Labour's David Wright in May.

A source for Telford & Wrekin Labour Party said: "We have not received an apology. At least one Labour councillor has instructed solicitors."

Ms Allan's post said: "I have been hounded for the last two and a half years, with smears, fear, lies, threats, slurs and abuse. Maybe I was fair game, a happy friendly female, who wanted nothing but the best for Telford.

"Now my staff, good decent Telford people who only wanted to do their job well, are fair game too. They have been hounded, harassed, abused and bullied."

The open letter, penned by the central executive committee of the Telford Labour Party in response to the post, was published on Saturday.

The letter said the comments made by the MP were "defamatory and untrue". It went on to say the post caused "a great deal of alarm and distress to those councillors concerned and also their families".

The letter called for Ms Allan to issue an immediate apology and claimed the councillors involved were taking legal advice as a result of the comments.

It added: "We wholeheartedly condemn the abuse or harassment of anyone – on social media or otherwise.

"We take an extremely dim view of this behaviour and we are clear that this behaviour has no place in the Labour Party or any other political party."

Ms Plumbly, who works for Oakengates Town Council, previously told the Shropshire Star that Ms Allan would "fly off the handle" if she was having a bad day. She said her problems with Ms Allan started when she requested an extra week's holiday in August.