Squirming of vote fix 'suspect': Would-be MP at heart of Labour's election seats storm denies blame Karie Murphy has been suspended amid claims she committed identity fraud Unite accused of fixing it so Murphy would stand for constituency in 2015 Murphy was Tom Watson's office manager - he resigned last week People of Falkirk speak of their 'shock' at being signed up without their consent By Louise Eccles and Alan Roden Suspended: Tom Watson's office manager Karie Murphy had been set to stand for Labour The woman at the centre of Labour's vote-rigging scandal has denied committing identity fraud to ensure she would stand in the next general election. Trade union Unite is accused of signing up people to the Labour Party in Falkirk to guarantee that its preferred candidate, Karie Murphy, would stand for the constituency in 2015. The flame-haired mother-of-two has been suspended along with Stephen Deans, chairman of the Falkirk constituency party, while the allegations are investigated. The controversy led Labour MP Tom Watson to resign this week from his role as the head of the party's election campaign. However, last night Miss Murphy, 49, who had been Mr Watson's office manager, strongly denied allegations of corruption, stressing: "I haven't done anything." When asked if she had signed voters up to the Falkirk Labour Party without their consent, she replied: "No, absolutely not true." She added: "I don't know what the allegations are. Until I know what the allegations are it would be inappropriate to try and defend myself. I'll follow the discipline of the union. I'll comply with what the party needs from me. That's as much as I can say. It is alleged that Miss Murphy and Mr Deans made local voters members of the constituency party and paid their membership fees, all without their consent. A Labour source said at least seven people in Falkirk were "shocked" to discover they were listed as members, giving them the right to vote on who would be the town's candidate in the general election. Suspicions were raised when the union allegedly sent a single cheque to cover the membership fees for several new members, rather than leaving the individuals to set up a direct debit. Around 120 new members had signed up within a matter of months. Ed Miliband owes his election as Labour leader in part to Unite and its network of supporters - and he remains dependent on its financial muscle. In July 2010, Unite's political committee voted to endorse Mr Miliband for the leadership and in August the union's then joint leaders Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley urged Unite members eligible to vote in the leadership election to back him. Behind the scenes the then Unite political director Charlie Whelan, a former spin doctor for Gordon Brown, worked closely with Tom Watson, who resigned this week, to persuade MPs to back him. Unite broke the spirit of the election rules by including a leaflet pledging its support for Mr Miliband along with the ballot papers sent to its 950,000 members eligible to vote. Mr Miliband won 47,439 votes from Unite members, more than double any other candidate. In total, he won 60 per cent of trade union votes. Since his election, Unite has given the party more than £8.4 million. Since "Red" Len McCluskey (pictured above) took charge of Unite, the union has published a Political Strategy to "win a Labour Government which will govern . . . towards a Socialism for the 21st Century." It has also run a grassroots campaign to "grow Unite membership in local Labour parties." Labour has announced the end of its scheme that allowed unions to pay new members" subscriptions for one year, admitting it was "open to abuse." Miss Murphy, who had been the front-runner for the candidacy, is now banned from standing in the 2015 election until an inquiry is held. She will not appear on the constituency's all-women shortlist. Last night she insisted she would "comply fully" with the investigation. The daughter of an electrician, Miss Murphy worked as a nurse in her native Glasgow, and later became a branch secretary for Unison. She then then became a trade union representative for petrochemicals firm INEOS. She married television engineer William Cullen in 1991. The couple had two children - Ryan, 17 and Roisin, 16 - but are now understood to be living apart. Mr Cullen was previously married to MSP Margaret McCulloch, a member of the Scottish Labour Party. Both declined to comment yesterday. In January, Miss Murphy posted a photograph of Margaret Thatcher on her Facebook page, with the words: "Having a party when she dies." The Facebook account was deactivated when she was challenged about the remarks, made just three months before the former Prime Minister passed away. Miss Murphy is understood to split her time between a flat in Glasgow's city centre, a home in Falkirk, and London. She is said to be close to Unite boss Len McCluskey, a former flatmate of Mr Watson. Mr McCluskey says the claims of corruption in Falkirk are part of a "behind-the-scenes smear campaign." However, Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy said Unite has "well and truly overstepped the mark" for candidate selection. Is this right? Labour leader Ed Miliband has been offering free memberships to union members Ed Miliband has been trying to lure unionists to sign up for free Labour Party memberships. He was caught on video offering a years's free membership to his party to union members who agree to take out a direct debit. Yesterday the Mail revealed how anyone who wants to stand for the Labour Party in any election now has to be a member of a trade union. This criteria was beefed up by Mr Miliband in the Labour rule book in 2011. The wording was changed from saying that anyone who wanted to stand for office as a Labour candidate "should" be a union member to "shall" be a union member "affiliated to the TUC." Aspiring candidates must also contribute to the union's political fund. The rule book says: "As well as demanding that anyone who wants to be a candidate must "have continuous membership of the party for at least 12 months," he or she must "also be a member of a trade union affiliated to the TUC or considered by the National Executive Committee (NEC) as a bona fide trade union and contribute to the political fund of that union." Labour insists that this change was "grammatical" or "technical adjustment" and merely confirmed what had been an "assumption" for 15 years. But yesterday the Tories also seized the fact Mr Miliband has appeared in a video advertisement on shopworkers" union USDAW's website, where one year's free Labour Party membership is offered to members who sign up with a direct debit. Visitors to the site are told that they can "put your point of view at meetings and policy forums that help decide Labour's policies." Diktat: Labour Party rulebook showing how officials changed wording to harden up trade union requirement Crucially, members are also encouraged to sign up to Labour so they can "vote in the selection of all your Labour candidates (after six month's membership) or stand as a Labour candidate yourself (after one year's membership) ." In the advert, Mr Miliband then urges trade unionists to "please join us in this mission" to make society "fairer, more just and equal." Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party chairman, said: "Ed Miliband claims he was in the dark about Len McCluskey's takeover of the Labour Party, and the secret block-buying of Labour memberships. But there is literally a video of Ed Miliband on a trade union website, which advertises these kinds of mass schemes. He's been caught red-handed. Ed Miliband is too weak to lead his party. He's too weak to run the country. So will Ed Miliband now come clean, and admit that this scandal goes far wider than just Falkirk, and that he knew about it all along? Unite's political strategy document boasted that it wanted to secure 41 seats for candidates that shared its left-wing values. So far, eight of those have been selected with many more contests still to run. But a spokesman for Mr Miliband said that Labour made no secret of wanting "ordinary working men and women to join the Party." He added that the scheme to sign up trade union members - Union Join - had been devised under Tony Blair. "That scheme was stopped when we realised it was being abused," he said, adding it was "very different to being unwittingly signed up as a member of the party without your knowledge." The spokesman also played down the tightening up of language decreeing that Labour candidates "shall" be trade union officials, saying it was a "technical" adjustment.