Rochdale Obbie: What Have Cyril and Libs Got On Them?

Extraordinary bias of the Rochdale Observer in favour of Sir Cyril Smith and his latter day cronies Dave Hennigan and Paul Rowen MP and against his opponents' reasonable observations continues apace. It is extraordinarily difficult to satisfactorily explain this deference indeed reverence through any normal, reasonable editorial choices.

What's going on? He may be an old man but hey, he took buckets of money from us for his public service, he remains active in local politics, and he must surely be held accountable for his errors and omissions? With his apologists equally guilty.

Dozens of documents related to the asbestos industry in the town and to Sir Cyril Smith's relationship with the masters of that industry have been virtually ignored by the town's major local paper. They have been printed or described in the New Statesman, on Rochdale Online, on this very blog, and in the Daily Mirror. But not in the Rochdale Observer. Why is this?

It would appear that for many, many years Sir Cyril Smith and Bro Norman have refused to attend Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day events in the town. Apparently following some ancient spat with the local Royal British Legion.

The Legion declined a business opportunity that would have somehow benefitted the Bros Smith and/or the Rochdale Liberals/Lib Dems. And for this reason - tortuously and incriminatingly explained in writing - the Brothers Grim have turned their backs on the fallen of Rochdale. Have the R'Obbie covered this? No they have not. Why is that?

Sir Cyril Smith worked with Lord Waddington, a Tory, during their years in parliament. By chance when Sir Cyril was pushing and bullying and grand-standing to secure the conviction and preferably hanging of Stefan Kiszko for the murder of Lesley Molseed which he clearly had not commited, poor Stefan's defence barrister was a singularly incompetent Waddington.

There was physical evidence proving Kiszko's innocence yet he was allowed to suffer in prison for many years with his poor mother suffering torment outside. Waddington and his team received some 8,000 pages of late evidence. Did they call for an adjournment. Did they buggery! They pressed on. Desperate Sir Cyril had been creating for every hour of court time lost.

Topping this malarkey, in what surely must be one of the greatest coincidences in the history of the criminal law, the true culprit was Ronald Castree.

He was not only convicted of an essentially similar sex attack on a child without any pennies dropping but was also connected very strong to Sir Cyril and his party through family membership and activism. This got a passing mention in the Manchester Evening News.

Obviously the well-supported and published allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying against Cyril relating to Cambridge House were not covered. Clear discrepancies in the funding of the local party - including monies passing through Cyril's clammy spankers - have gone uninvestigated. And there are plenty more examples where these come from.

To their credit the R'Obbie did cover national newspaper calls for Sir Cyril to be stripped of his ill-earned title. Which is more than can be said for others. But now they appear to be colluding in papering over these cracks with an ancient story about what I'd say is a rather terrible portrait of the big man.

Sold to the Ogden Trust nine months ago. Installed in the National Liberal Club many months ago. Now revisited as if a current story as a way of deflecting attention from Cyril's many and varied misdemeanours.

Cyril Smith's career should be weighed up and found wanted. He should indeed be served up on toast. And his all his apologists and camp followers should be weighed up also.

Images to be added shortly are extracted from this week's Rochdale Express, the freesheet sibling paper, and from the paid for Saturday edition of the R'Obbie.

FOOTNOTE: The Manchester Evening News also carry the recycled wrong 'un story about that crappy portrait - more on which anon - but although we know for certain that at least one story has been filed the MEN HAVE NOT covered the call for Sir Cyril Smith MBE to be stripped of his ill-gotten knighthood. We did of course.