Dear Mr Editor, That Jacqui Smith is doing a fabulous job, her HUSBAND writes to newspaper

Proud: Richard kisses wife Jacqui after she won Redditch in 1997

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s husband has been unmasked as the author of a letter-writing campaign defending the Government to her local newspaper – without revealing that they are married.



Richard Timney has had a series of angry letters published in the Redditch Advertiser in Worcestershire attacking the Tories over schools and backing Ms Smith’s controversial identity-cards plan.

But he conveniently neglected to point out that his wife Ms Smith, 46, MP for the marginal seat of Redditch and a former Schools Minister, was responsible for both policies. Nor did he say that he is paid £40,000 a year as her Commons adviser.

Mr Timney’s latest letter, published on December 8, laid into the Conservatives over ID cards.



‘If the Tories were serious about protecting Britain’s borders, they would be supporting ID cards – not standing on street stalls campaigning against them,’ he raged.

‘The national identity scheme will deliver a single secure form of identity which will provide all of us with an easy and convenient means of proving our identity, prevent and protect us from identity theft and fraud, reassure us all that workers in positions of trust are who they say they are, protect the country from illegal immigration and make it harder for criminals to use false or multiple identities.



‘The Conservatives have made the wrong decision again!’



Mr Timney gave up his job as a civil engineer to bring up the couple’s two children when Ms Smith became an MP in 1997 and is now described as her ‘senior researcher/parliamentary assistant’.

In another letter, he mocked former Tory leader Michael Howard after he visited Redditch. ‘Michael Howard was pictured on your front page grinning away in Redditch with his candidate for the General Election,’ he wrote.



In one letter, Mr Timney mocked former Tory leader Michael Howard



‘Mr Howard is old enough to qualify for a free bus pass if he lived in Redditch. Unfortunately his candidate for the General Election Karen Lumley voted to scrap them. I don’t know what they think they’ve got to grin about.’



Another time, he leapt to the defence of his wife over a controversial local road scheme.



He referred to her by her Christian name, though did not explain why, and launched a ferocious attack on Tory John Maples, MP for nearby Stratford-on-Avon, and a local Conservative councillor.



‘Jacqui Smith has always supported the need for a bypass for Studley – she still does,’ he wrote. ‘In 1996, the Conservatives decided to pull the plug on the scheme. Then the new Labour administration confirmed the decision not to fund the bypass in

1998 and Jacqui decided the quickest way to provide relief for Studley was to pursue a simpler solution.



‘It is a shame that Tories like John Maples MP and councillor Antonia Pulsford have tried to say it is the Labour Government that has ended the chances of the scheme ever being built when the plain fact is it was the Conservative Government’s decision in 1996 that was the beginning of the end for the plans.



‘It has taken a Labour Government to provide the clarity people and businesses along the route need.’



Ms Smith’s majority of 2,716 at Redditch in the last General Election has led to it being identified as one of the Tories’ top target seats.



Tory MP Greg Hands said: ‘Things must be bad for the Home Secretary. After allowing police to arrest an Opposition MP and after fiddling knife crime figures, she is left with so few friends she has been reduced to using her husband as a cheerleader.’



Ms Smith’s spokeswoman said: ‘Richard is very proud of Jacqui and he is well known in Redditch.



‘He has never concealed his connection to her.’



Redditch Advertiser editor Alan Wallcroft said: ‘Mr Timney can write to us like any other member of the public.’