Learning From History
Stop the United Kingdom Being Ruled by Criminals
Restoring faith and confidence in the government is the first crucial step to restoring our society. First, we have to remove the criminals and prevent criminals from becoming our leaders.
By Nick Nutter | Last Updated 2024-11-2 | Learning From History
This article has been visited 316 times
“There is a man (Boris Johnson) who serially debased the high office that he was never fit to hold. There is a man who turned government into a carnival of clowning, chaos, and chicanery. There is a man who presided over an appalling regime of lockdown-busting and law-breaking in Downing Street which triggered entirely justified public outrage and was poison for the people’s faith in government. (Andrew Rawnsley The Guardian 10th June 2023)”
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How could this happen? How could a criminal become, not only an elected Member of Parliament, but a member of the UK Government and then prime minister?
The simple answer is that the law in the United Kingdom permits it.
In 2012, reports confirmed that 243 (43%) of Parliamentary MPs had criminal records for a wide range of offenses, including prison terms. This information came from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
The IPSA now say on its website, "We do not have information on the number of MPs convicted of criminal offenses because MPs are not required to disclose this information to us."
It is noteworthy that the IPSA stopped counting the number of MPs with criminal convictions during the premiership of Conservative David Cameron.
It is reasonable to ask how many MPs elected in the July 2024 elections had criminal convictions. After all, we do not want a repeat of the debacle that followed Boris Johnson becoming prime minister. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find this information.
The IPSA website offers this advice: “Individual police forces might have the information you’re looking for. However, because this information is personal data, it might be protected from disclosure by data protection laws.”
They also say, “If you want to ask individual MPs for this information, their contact details are available. Please note that Members of Parliament are not considered public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act. This means they are not obligated to respond to your requests for information. The Act also doesn’t apply to political parties.”
What do the relevant laws say?
The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualifies you from becoming a Member of Parliament if you have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than one year in prison and are currently in prison as a result of that offence.
Once you are released from prison, you can run for election as an MP. You can even run for election while still in prison, as long as your sentence is less than one year.
The rules for local councillors are actually stricter than those for MPs.
Criminals in Local Councils
There are about 10,480 parish and town councils in England. Parish councils can be called different things, such as town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or city council.
You cannot be a councillor if an election court has found you guilty of a corrupt or illegal practice.
If you want to run for local councillor, the Local Government Act 1972 (section 80) states that you cannot stand for election if you have been convicted and received a prison sentence (or suspended sentence) of three months or more in the five years before the election.
This "5-year rule" applies even if the prison sentence (or suspended sentence) is no longer active. This is due to section 7 (1)(d) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
However, the disqualification criteria do not apply to criminal convictions that do not involve prison time. It also does not apply after 5 years have passed since the conviction, even if the conviction remains active.
If you are already a local councillor and receive a custodial sentence of three months or more (including suspended sentences), you will automatically lose your seat.
Criminals in the House of Lords
You might think that the elite of society in the Upper House, the House of Lords, would have stricter rules about the morality of those considered to be our superiors. You would be wrong.
The law states that you cannot be a member of the House of Lords if you have been convicted of treason or are an undischarged bankrupt. While this seems fair, there is more.
Under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, a member who has resigned from the House or who has ceased to be a member due to non-attendance for six months or more, or a member who is sentenced to imprisonment indefinitely or for more than one year is disqualified from attending the House's proceedings (including committee meetings).
Therefore, you can be a criminal in the House of Lords as long as you have not been sentenced to more than one year's imprisonment. Interestingly, the reform act was also initiated during Cameron's government.
Proposal - How to Stop the UK Being Ruled by Criminals
To ensure our elected and non-elected officials remain honest, we must amend three parliamentary acts: the Representation of the People Act 1981, the Local Government Act 1972, and the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
These amendments should be straightforward, such as:
An adult (over the age of 18 years) who has committed a crime should not be allowed to become a member of the House of Lords, an MP, county councillor, town councillor, or parish councillor. If a person in such a position is charged with a crime, they should be immediately suspended. They should be reinstated if found innocent and barred if found guilty.
A crime is defined as any offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more.
An offense is any act or behaviour prohibited by common or criminal law and subject to penalties like fines, imprisonment, or community service.
If the crime involves using their position for personal gain, such as corruption while in office, the convicted official should face a hefty financial penalty equivalent to their proven financial gain and lose any pensions earned during their time in office.
Does the Labour Party Have the Guts?
With the election of a brand-new Labour Government the question now is; Does the Labour Party Have the Guts to Make This Happen?
Call to Action
Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) was elected as chair of the Petitions Committee on the 9th September 2024.
I’ve made a petition – will you sign it? Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700126/sponsors/new?token=gW4s5TPYZ5qEEo5gwiD3
My petition:
Stop the United Kingdom Being Ruled by Criminals
Restore faith and confidence in the government. To ensure our elected and non-elected officials remain honest, Government must amend three parliamentary acts: the Representation of the People Act 1981, the Local Government Act 1972, and the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
“There is a man (Boris Johnson) who serially debased the high office that he was never fit to hold. There is a man who turned government into a carnival of clowning, chaos, and chicanery. There is a man who presided over an appalling regime of lockdown-busting and law-breaking in Downing Street which triggered entirely justified public outrage and was poison for the people’s faith in government. (Andrew Rawnsley The Guardian 10th June 2023)”
We must prevent this happening again.
________________________________________Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700126/sponsors/new?token=gW4s5TPYZ5qEEo5gwiD3
My Actions
On the 23rd October 2024, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I made two requests, one to the House of Commons, one to the House of Lords.
Dear House of Commons,
Please could you give me the number of MPs currently elected who have an adult criminal conviction. I am not interested in their names.
A crime in this instance is defined as any offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more.
The reply was to the effect that the House of Commons does not record that information.
Dear House of Lords,
Please could you give me the number of peers currently sitting in the House of Lords who have a criminal conviction. I am not interested in their names.
A crime in this instance is defined as any offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more.
The reply was to the effect that there are two sitting peers with criminal convictions gained since they became peers and an unknown number with convictions gained prior to their becoming peers.
On the 26th October 2024, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I made two requests, one to the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, one to the Office of the Leader of the House of Lords.
Dear Office of the Leader of the House of Lords,
Please could you give me the number of peers currently sitting in the House of Lords who have a criminal conviction. I am not interested in their names.
A crime in this instance is defined as any offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more.
Dear Office of the Leader of the House of Commons,
Please could you give me the number of peers currently sitting in the House of Lords who have a criminal conviction. I am not interested in their names.
A crime in this instance is defined as any offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more.
On the 29th October 2024, I emailed every Member of Parliament as follows:
Dear MP,
I am conducting a survey of Members of Parliament to establish how many have previous adult convictions for offences that are punishable by a maximum prison sentence of six months or more (so crimes, not minor offences).
The information will be used to help prevent a repeat of the previous Conservative administrations blatant disregard for the law. To Stop the United Kingdom Being Ruled by Criminals.
If the answer to the question is No, then please sign my petition at the following link and reply to this email with a simple No.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/924/434/320/stop-our-country-being-ruled-by-criminals/
If the answer is Yes, then please reply with a simple Yes, I have no interest in what the offence was, only numbers.
For those of you with a few minutes spare, the petition is backed by the following article.
https://nuttersworld.com/learning-from-history/criminals-in-power-uk/
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