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		Sharp exchanges at East Midlands euro-count Monday, 8th June 2009 The East Midlands European election count, at the Aylestone Leisure Centre in Leicester on Sunday, was marked by a sharp exchange between two of the re-elected MEPs, Conservative Roger Helmer and Lib-Dem Bill Newton Dunn. Normally election counts are both formal and routine, and apart from the actual results themselves, unlikely to be newsworthy. On this occasion however, Lib-Dem Newton Dunn, elected fifth out of the Region's five MEPs, chose to use his acceptance speech to claim that two of the newly re-elected members "denied climate change". He was believed to be referring to Conservative Roger Helmer, who has done considerable work and produced several publications on climate issues. Helmer reacted to Newton Dunn's comments by interrupting "That's not true, and you know it". Newton Dunn repeated the accusation, prompting Helmer to declare to the audience "There you have it -- a deliberate lie from the platform". Normally politicians are reluctant to accuse each other of lying, preferring softer phrases like "economical with the truth". Speaking afterwards, however, Roger Helmer justified his use of the word. "Bill knows that what he said is just plain not true. It was a deliberate, copper-bottomed lie". Supporting his accusation, Helmer drew attention to his leaflet published last year in which he said "Everyone agrees that the Earth's climate is changing. Always has, always will", and to his recent Bruges Group book "Cool Thinking on Climate Change" in which he says "Of course the climate changes. Constantly. If anyone denies climate change, they're just plain ignorant". Helmer's book includes a chapter that describes historical climate change in considerable detail, covering the long-term, medium term and short term. The book is available from The Bruges Group, www.brugesgroup.com at £4. Commenting on the spat, Helmer said "There is a real need now for politicians to regain the trust of the public. But they will not do so by telling deliberate lies in public. Bill has form on this. In 1998, he secured a well-paid job in politics by deliberately misleading his selection committee about his views on Europe".