David Campbell: Treatment of 83-year-old Lord Maginnis smacks of vitriol and disrespect towards a unionist parliamentarian of 40 years

I do not pretend to know all the details surrounding the encounter that has led to Lord Maginnis being recommended for suspension from the House of Lords for at least eighteen months, but it appears to smack of heavy-handedness, vitriol, and disrespect towards a parliamentarian of nearly 40 years experience.

It also makes one suspicious that an agenda is playing out whereby he is effectively removed from Parliament.

This is something that IRA terrorists were never able to accomplish despite many attempts.

I have been with Ken Maginnis many times in Parliament over the years and I have always found him to be courteous and considerate to all staff, and clearly respected by all staff in return.

Are we to believe that a man of 82, partially crippled with continuous chronic pain could bully and harass three able-bodied MPs, and a trained security guard?

For some time Ken has believed that elements in the establishment, and the media, have been trying to discredit and exclude him because he holds and espouses deeply held Christian views on morality.

He is deeply concerned at the increasing public portrayal of non-normal sexuality as normal, particularly when our children are exposed to it. He may well have fallen into a trap carefully laid for him.

Ken is one of a small number of unionists, without whom, we would not have had an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Many individuals, not least in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, owe their lives to him.

I would appeal to everyone who has been helped by Ken over the years to write to The Lord Speaker at the House of Lords to ask that the severity of this proposed sanction be reviewed and that Ken Maginnis is permitted to continue his valuable public service in our national parliament.

Yours etc,

David Campbell, Former UUP chairman