Hayes vs the Liberal Democrats
Long term member challenging expulsion
Josephine Hayes was expelled from the Liberal Democrats, a party she supported for more than half her life. Hayes is bringing a High Court claim to get her party membership back. She alleges that she has been punished for challenges she made to poor governance in the party. She was expelled following an anonymous complaint.
Hayes was a founder member of the Liberal Democrats. She had many roles in the party, including parliamentary and European parliamentary candidate, elected councillor, voluntary officer at local, regional, state and federal levels.
Today’s hearing is of the Defendant’s application to strike out 2 parts of the Claimant’s case. The Defendant’s have split up the Claimant’s part into 3. The first part being is what happened to her by the disciplinary panel (that they ignored evidence, reached incorrect conclusions of fact etc. The second is that because the Claimant argues the membership contract between all the members of the LDs requires an independent stand-alone process free from interference by the executive, the actions taken by the disciplinary committee are invalid. The third are allegations of discrimination, victimisation etc. The Defendant is arguing that 2 and 3 should be struck out.
Hayes is litigating in person.
Status
The second and third part of Hayes’ claim was struck out by Master Armstrong and costs awarded to the Defendants of £55,000 to be paid within 28 days.
The remaining portion of her claim for breach of contract remains and is likely to be heard in July 2024. A hearing has been scheduled for 22 July 2024.
Live tweet threads
Abbreviations
JH/C - Josephine Hayes, Claimant
LD/D - Liberal Democrat Party, Defendants
J/RA - Richard Armstrong, Master of the Kings Bench, Judge
RM - Richard Mott , Counsel for the Defendant
HS - Harry Stratton, Counsel for the Defendant
DMT - DMT Legal, Defendant’s solicitors