MP refuses to apologise to constituent branded snotty

6:02am Thursday 15th March 2007

A NORTH-EAST MP is refusing to apologise for an email sent by her staff which said there was "no rush" to respond to a "snotty" constituent who "hates the government".

The email came to light when Matthew Storey, who is an assistant to Stockton MP Dari Taylor, accidentally pressed reply instead of forward.

His mistake sent the note back to the subject, instead of a colleague in London.

Last night, Ms Taylor, MP for Stockton South, was adamant there would be no apology for the mistake.

She said the family involved had been rude and abusive when they called her offices in Thornaby and London.

To prove her case, Ms Taylor is asking for the recordings of the phone calls.

In his email, Mr Storey said: "I have spoken to her Mother about the issue at length and she's very snotty. Hates the government and wasn't afraid to say so. So no rush."

The note was intended for Mr Storey's colleague, Amanda Webster, in London.

Primary school teacher Bethan Howells, from Eaglescliffe, contacted Ms Taylor for help.

Miss Howells, 25, qualified as a teacher in 2004. She has applied for dozens of jobs without success.

Miss Howells asked Ms Taylor to find out why hundreds of primary school teachers were being paid to train every year if the jobs were not available when they finished.

Miss Howells sent the office a long email and her mother-in-law had spoken to staff.

However, she was shocked by the return email from Ms Taylor's office.

She said: "We phoned for an apology, but they refused.

"I want to make sure no one gets treated like this again."

Ms Taylor said Miss Howells' mother-in-law had been rude.

She said: "She phoned the office furious and mad.

"She started rattling Matthew's cage saying she hated the Government.

"I told Matthew that it was an awful mistake with the email, it shouldn't have happened, but it was a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other.

"I can't force him to apologise.

"Abuse is not something I dole out and it is not something I expect my staff to receive. Perhaps they should be apologising to my staff."

Ms Taylor, a former teacher, said her staff treated all constituents the same, regardless of how they voted.

In a letter to Miss Howells, Ms Taylor says: "It is to be regretted that the conversations between my staff and your family were heated and angry.

"Hopefully, you will accept that when constituents are angry, I am the person who should be the recipient of the heated words and not the people who serve, in an exemplary manner, me and the population of Stockton South."

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