A LABOUR peer has demanded that his name be removed from a letter reportedly being used by a US woman who is at the centre of a legal battle with two community organisations in the Outer Hebrides.
George Foulkes has said that he has asked the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre (EMLC) to ensure his name is not used in connection with “any action” it is involved with regarding Claire Kellerman.
We previously reported on Kellerman, the niece and adoptive daughter of the late Hollywood actress and MASH star Sally Kellerman, finding herself in the middle of a media storm as she launched a £10,000 legal claim after she was refused permission to bring her dog into the Bernera Community Cafe.
Kellerman’s lawyers, the Glasgow-based EMLC, initially launched a court challenge against the Bernera Development Trust, which ran up legal costs of more than £7000.
However, they then admitted in court that the action was directed against the wrong organisation. EMLC has now brought a claim against the community association, the voluntary group that runs the cafe.
Foulkes previously told The Scotsman that he has resigned his role as a patron of the organisation in protest.
He said that she was "not an ethnic minority person" and was involved in a "provocative case causing so many problems for the local community”.
Foulkes added: “I have resigned in protest at their support for her, and also their failure to keep patrons informed of their work.”
But now, the former Labour MP has written to the organisation over concerns about a letter – which reportedly still names Foulkes as a patron – being shown by Kellerman across the islands.
“I have again written to the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre’s chairman making clear my name should not be used in connection with any action they are involved in on behalf of Ms Kellerman,” he wrote to EMLC, according to The Scotsman.
“I have told them she must cease and desist from use of that letter, so long as it has my name is on it.”
