Minister for hypocrisy: MP who fought for tougher laws is caught driving while on his mobile
By MATTHEW HICKLEY and DAVID WILKES
Last updated at 23:57pm on 2nd November 2007
He was a minister who helped to toughen up the law banning drivers from talking on a mobile phone.
And he made his name in the Commons by claiming dangerous drivers were "serial potential killers" and campaigning for longer sentences.
But yesterday Liam Byrne was convicted of using his mobile while at the wheel - leaving him with a fine, a criminal record and a reputation in tatters.
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The Home Office minister in charge of immigration told a court that he was taking an important telephone call on "a deportation matter" when pulled over by police near his Birmingham Hodge Hill constituency.
Motoring groups dismissed his explanation as "totally unacceptable" and fiercely criticised Mr Byrne's dangerous conduct.
Mr Byrne's job appeared to be safe - for now - as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith stated that he still had her confidence.
But his image as a high-flying Labour figure, spoken of as a future cabinet minister, was seriously dented.
The incident is particularly damaging for 37-year- old Mr Byrne given his campaigning credentials.
He once told a parliamentary committee that he was "shocked" at the leniency shown to drivers.
In 2005 he tabled a motion calling for tougher penalties.
Using a mobile phone while driving was made a specific offence in 2003, before Mr Byrne was elected as an MP.
But he sat on the Parliamentary committee that increased the penalty earlier this year from a £30 fixed fine to £60 and three penalty points.
On his constituency website Mr Byrne claims road safety is "a massive issue for local residents."
Sutton Coldfield magistrates heard how he was pulled over by police while driving a Ford Escort in Tyburn Road, Birmingham, on July 6, after they saw him on his hand-held mobile phone.
When officers asked him how many penalty points he already had on his licence he claimed he did not know, meaning that the had to go to court in case Mr Byrne faced disqualification under the totting-up rules.
He turned out to have three points already - not enough to lose his licence.
Details of how he earned them were not disclosed.
In a letter to the court he expressed remorse for the offence and told magistrates he accepted that there was no excuse, and that he should have pulled over to take the telephone call.
He was fined £100 with £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge, with three points on his licence.
Chairman of the bench Maggie Moore said the fine would have been £150, but for Mr Byrne's prompt guilty plea and expression of remorse.
Road safety campaigners last night condemned the minister for setting a bad example.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists criticised Mr Byrne for claiming that his phone call was "important."
A spokesman said: "The annoying thing is the implication that the phone call was so important he couldn't pull over to take it.
"That is totally unacceptable - everybody who has a mobile phone, a car and a job could try to claim that in mitigation.
"It is imperative that ministers lead by example. If this call was so important, it should never have been taken at the wheel."
Kevin Clinton of The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "Far too many lives have been lost because of mobile phone calls and whether you are on a hand-held or a hands-free phone you are four times more likely to crash."
Mr Byrne said later: "Talking on a phone without a hands free is wrong. I have apologised unreservedly to the court."
The Home Office declined to comment.
• Ministers have spent years lecturing Britain's motorists on speed limits or the benefits of public transport. But often it is a case of drive as I say, not as I do:
Feb 1998: John Prescott, then in charge of transport, boasted he was travelling by train from Scarborough to Hull for an engagement. He nipped out at a station three miles down the line and into his Jaguar to finish the trip.
June 1999: Days after the M4 bus lane opened just after Heathrow, Tony Blair was caught in the resulting jams. His official car swung into the empty bus lane and past the queues for "security reasons."
Oct 1999: Prescott, again, used his Jag for the 200-yard trip from his hotel to the Labour conference to deliver a speech urging the use of public transport. The reason: "The wife doesn't like having her hair blown about."
July 2000: Jack Straw, then Home Secretary and supporter of "zero-tolerance" on speeders, was stopped for doing 103mph on the M5 in Somerset. He said he was late for a meeting with Mr Blair. No action was taken as his Jaguar was being driven by a police officer.
Sept 2007: Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman was fined £60 with three penalty points for speeding in Suffolk.
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