Light-fingered Lords.
Posted by Big John on September 13, 2011
Now there’s a surprise ! Former Tory peers Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Hanningfield have been freed from prison after serving only a quarter of their sentences for fiddling their parliamentary expenses. They join three former Labour MPs jailed over the parliamentary expenses scandal, David Chaytor, Eric Illsley and Jim Devine who have already been released.
Considering that dozens of other thieving bastards from both Houses of Parliament should have been ‘banged up’, this whole business stinks of “old school ties”, “funny handshakes” and those mates ”who know where the bodies are buried”.
I know that we have some seriously dopey judges in this country (Cherie Blair for one. Umm ! I wonder who ‘accidently’ shredded her old man’s expense claims ?), but surely even they realise that there is no point in sentencing some crook to twelve months in jail if he is going to get a 75% ‘discount’ as in the case of ex-barrister (Yes, that’s right, he was a lawyer) Lord Taylor. Or am I …
… missing something here ?
gabbygeezer said
In the U.S. we seem to be experiencing somewhat of a lull in personal legislator thievery. Probably because there’s nothing left in the treasury to steal.
SilverTiger said
If I read the report correctly, it is the Ministry of Justice, not a judge, that has ordered the release of these two and that the rules under which they were released are well established. (Whether or not we agree that these rules are right and proper is another matter.) They seem to have been released on “HDC” (Home Detention Curfew) which presumably implies that there is some restriction on their movements.
Whether or not this is fair depends on how many other prisoners jailed for other crimes are released under the same conditions. If we knew that, then there might not seem anything out of the ordinary about these two cases. I don’t know what the figures are, so cannot decide.
Even if these two are out of jail early, the fact remains that they were found guilty of criminal offences and unless that verdict is undone on appeal, the criminal record remains, effectively barring them from public office or, in the case of Taylor, from exercising as a barrister. Hanningfield will presumably be able to go on being a pig farmer though he will have to keep his own nose out of the trough.
Rummuser said
I wonder what you would say if you were an Indian. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/5422967/One-third-of-Indian-MPs-have-criminal-charges-filed-against-them.html
Big John said
I see that our pig farmer has been nicked again ‘Tiger’..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/14/lord-hanningfield-arrested-mps-expenses
I can only say “Wow” ! Ramana ..