In a ludicrous statement, the Crown Prosecution Service argues that Conservative Party agents and candidates did not dishonestly submit false returns – because the Conservative Party told them it was legal.
That really is what the decision says. I quote:
“However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly. Therefore we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence.”
So the Conservative Party broke electoral law, that is not in question and they have been fined for it by the Electoral Commission. But no individual may be prosecuted because Conservative Party HQ told them to do it? Their defence was that they are collectively all crooks, and this was accepted by the “independent” Crown Prosecution Service?
On top of which, the Crown Prosecution Service also colludes with the Tory Party by repeating the lie the Tories have assiduously spread that the allegations only related to the “Battlebus”. Of course for generations every Party Leader has campaigned from a “Battlebus”, singular, and the public are familiar with it. The Tory meme then goes everyone does that, why is it illegal?
In fact this was about something much bigger. Not one bus, but scores of buses, bussing activists and campaign directors in to marginal seats where they were also in paid for accommodation. The CPS statement refers to no allegations at all except a “Battlebus”, singular. By repeating this Tory lie in presenting the issue, the Crown Prosecution Service prove beyond any doubt that they are directly in collusion with the Tory Party.
So it appears that whilst there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that a crime was committed, its not an offence, if the political party perpetrating the crime is in power, at the time the crime was committed. Despite the comments from the Electoral Commission that the Conservative Party were ‘unco-operative and evasive’. What sort of a society do we actually live in?
If this is an indication of how a post Brexit UK will operate, I really do fear for our children and our children’s children. What sort of an example does it truly set?
If you are in a position of wealth or power, the normal rules of ‘natural justice’ do not apply to you. However, if you are without means, or in fact poor, the CPS will come down on you, with all the venom they can muster. Whilst explaining to the rest of society, that it really is in your best interest, for them not to have to provide any hard evidence, of any offence ever having been committed.
The most worrying thing here for all our citizens, is that you have a hierarchy within society, that has no honour, which has no shame, and who will lie and deceive to protect that power, at all and any costs.
I truly despair for our society.
I honestly wonder if we are standing on the precipice here. British people have been encouraged to be ignorant and opinionated. Our worst tendencies pandered too. I really see a dive into totalitarianism for us I honestly don’t think we’ll come back from this until after we have complete destroyed ourselves.
And flying canvassers, Saatchi films, extensive use of targeted social media, professional push-poll call centres, constituency-targeted letters from David Cameron, wraparound newspaper ads, visits and the borrowing of trains – all mistakes, not election fraud.
Cover Up. Your article is 100% correct. Looks like we have a De facto one party Corporate Fascist State on the way folks. Aided and Abetted by the CPS.
And the mainstream media of newspapers and a laughably ‘Impartial’ broadcaster.
Is the Conservative Party still an unincorporated association of its members?
Has the CPS not considered which members at HQ took the decisions and gave the advice to the agents?
That wouldn’t have been an offence.
It would be an offence for an agent to sign their declaration knowing it to be fraudulent, it would be an offence for someone at HQ to sign a national declaration knowing it to be fraudulent. Someone at HQ telling an agent they had already declared something as national expenses wouldn’t be illegal.
Had it gone to court it would have cost the tax payer millions and there is no way they could get a conviction.
Fred, I suspect it is an offence for someone at HQ to deliberately mislead an agent, in full knowledge that the law was being breached. Corporate responsibility cannot be overruled by ignorance. The Conservative party have breached the rules but, given the fucked up nature of our corrupt society, the establishment and their representatives can be above the law. This is a scandal, no matter how it is dressed.
Well, Fred, I’m not a legal expert but my understanding is that the CPS have confirmed that there has been wrongdoing but the wrongdoers were doing so in ignorance. The Conservative party, at best, have poor governance controls that allowed their organisation to do wrong. It wouldn’t be difficult to find the source of the breakdown in governance, but there doesn’t seem to be the political will to address this problem thoroughly. A relatively small fine is laughable.
Fred, are you happy with this state of affairs?
But, Fred, you appear to be happy that our elections, like the US, have become a battle of wallets, with little or no regard for the rules. Just not cricket, as some might say. You defend the Tories like a rabid supporter.
Fred, I’m sure someone like yourself would have reported Nicola’s helicopter if there was even a hint of wrongdoing, so I can only assume you’re bullshitting now. As for the Greens, not risking deposits they cannot really afford – tactfully selecting where to stand, did this take you by surprise? The Tories can afford to stand right across the UK but choose not to – are you unhappy about that? (NB. You going off piste encouraged me to do likewise! ?)
How about considering the possible application of conspiracy?
Absolutely disgusting – this is fraud and the tories know it. Wonder how many palms had to be greased and how much it has cost the taxpayer to do this! This tory party should be stood against a wall and shot.
Let’s hope people’s memories aren’t as short as the tory party think they are and that they get annihilated at the polls on June 8th – or have the fixed that as well?
When asked about the status of the accused MP’s last month May was confidant that all of them would be standing again in the general election, clearly indicating she already knew the decision of the CPS by that point. Isn’t there any regulation regarding beneficiaries of a crime influencing the course of an investigation into the crime? Shouldn’t May be obliged to state when she knew and how?
It just demonstrates the ‘British way” – a quiet word out of sight and ear, in marked contrast to the Americans, who prefer terminations. The day democracy died. But May’s attempt to divert attention by reigniting the blood sports debate was a grave miscalculation.
Sadly, I’ve come the conclusion the whole system is a fraud. The Conservative Party is a front for the same British establishment that has ruled for hundreds of years, and the rest is just window-dressing to give the impression they are a legitimate political party that face opposition. I doubt the CPS ever had any intention of prosecuting the Conservatives – the whole scandal may well have been a ruse by Tory backers to force May (their puppet) into an election. Of course, the Tories’ electoral fraud is most probably the tip of an iceberg in which the newspapers, the other political parties, the media and the courts collude to fix elections. The strange way Corbyn has supported the Tories on all their important votes unfortunately suggests he is also part of the problem – knowingly or not.
The entire system is rotten and corrupt, and the only way out is political or economic collapse.
Jeremy corbyn hasn’t supported the Tories on any of their votes. Sound like you’ve fallen for the propaganda yourself.
Exactly. Corbyn is different. He really is. That is why they hate him. As to rT3’s ‘post Brexit’ notion, there is nothing new about this sort of corruption, and nothing that doesn’t happen throughout the EU. And comparisons with the US , cf Mark Russell, don’t work either. The US system is the template of corruption, the Tories (and the Blairites) are eager pupils of the US system-Sodom and Tomorrow.
I know – he’s my MP has been for 20 years or more. He also comes to our annual charity awards event with Bianca Jaggar. He is possibly the most decent man you’ll ever meet.
Why is he giving May so much support over Brexit, and why is he repeating the lie that “The people have spoken and it must go ahead”? Does he have trouble with simple arithmetic?
I wonder if there is a constitutional lawyer who can answer the following:
If the Tory Party attained a majority of seats at the 2015 election by improper means in 29 constituencies, and they had a majority of 12, this would mean that that “majority” should be disregarded. Does this mean that any legislation passed since 2015 should be revoked?
There wouldn’t be much left in the statute books if that were the case. Elections been fixed, corrupted and defied the laws since time immemorial.
Yes they are just as crooked and twisted as the Tories ! Probably all Torie voters so in third own interest not to take thier (partie) to court! It was blatantly obvious that was going to be the result!!!
I still can’t quite believe that these disgusting thieving Tories are ahead in the polls in a time of abject austerity.
Even though the BBC are doing their best to support the Tories at every opportunity, there are plenty of stories from other media demonstrating their cruelty and lies.
This keeps quite a good tally of the Tory fraud:
https://www.thecanary.co/
Herbie spend some time with pensioners – they live in cloud cookoo land. I was with my parents and friends recently (75+) they all honestly believe everything that is said on the news. My mum has completely bought the May is a strong woman bullshit. I know what she’s have said 30 years ago if my grandad had spoken similar nonsense – she have said “oh well, he’s gone daft in his old age” sadly I see it in my lovely parents now, what scares me is that provided the Tories keep all the others split the incredible amount of pensioners in the south east and west should be enough to do. They’re counting on the daft bugger vote.
I see the same thing in my own family.
Mass media is quite hypnotic, and much more so since the 90s.
It’s not easy to fight that influence, since it works on a drip by drip over time.
It’s the key challenge to any alternative party.
And I’m not sure we’ve found the answer yet.
One positive might be that young people don’t really watch so much msm these days and get their info from alternative sources, though there’s a lot of msm posing as alternative.
Ms Saunders is paid in the range £200,000 – £204,999
Role
‘The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the national head of service for the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales, appointed by and responsible to the Attorney General. It is the function of the DPP with a view to initiation or continuation of criminal proceedings, to consider the facts and information brought to their notice by police or others, and where they think proper, to initiate, undertake and carry on criminal proceedings.’
Ex the Organogram on https://data.gov.uk/organogram/crown-prosecution-service/2016-09-30
LOL
Little on the net on Mr Nick Vamos who is the CPS Head of Special Crime. In 2002, he was working as a barrister and decided to change course.
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/variety-is-the-spice-of-life-for-barrister-on-the-move/37582.fullarticle
I think it’s right he has that level of salary. MPs should too. That is one way to encourage integrity and encourage those who are intelligent but not wealthy to take up public service. The carrot should be accompanied by the sword and where there is corruption it should be punished.
Karl McCartney Con candidate and ex MP Lincoln (on Sky News) is demanding that Louise Edwards of the Electoral Commission is dismissed and others there who he thinks displayed ‘partiality’. A very unhappy bunny. He is displaying a sullen anger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_McCartney
‘Electoral Commission and police investigation[edit]
In March 2017, the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative party £70,000 following the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation. During the 2015 general election coaches of activists were transported to marginal constituencies including Lincoln to campaign alongside or in close proximity to local campaigners. The inclusion in the Party national return of what in the commission’s view should have been reported as candidate spending meant that there was a realistic prospect that this enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents. In consequence, Karl McCartney was investigated by Lincolnshire Police over whether he breached election spending rules. Lincolnshire Police subsequently passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on whether Mr McCartney should be prosecuted for electoral fraud in relation to the 2015 general election. A decision is expected in late May or early June 2017.’
Just harking back to the French election for a minute (excuse the O/T), I don’t know whether you’ve looked at the vote distribution map, for example here. http://www.leparisien.fr/elections/presidentielle/resultats/
It is really astounding. Le Pen only won two départements, both in the north, Pas de Calais (62), and l’Aisne (02). Even the southeast, round Nice, which is normally strongly pro- Le Pen, voted for Macron, though not by much. The rest is pure purple.
It was in fact, on a regional basis, a complete wipe-out for Le Pen. Making a come-back in five years’ time, doesn’t look good. Maybe that’s why the ambitious niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, has decided to stand down, at least for a while. The future doesn’t look too rosy for the FN.
I continue to maintain that this is very significant for Britain too (to justify the O/T).
“The rest is pure purple.”
Well, it isn’t actually.
When you’re doing distributions, it’s probably best to show a distribution.
This kind of thing:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/07/world/europe/france-election-results-maps.html?_r=0
Your map is simply a fraudulent way of representing the information.
It’s supposed to impress the gullible.
I certainly wouldn’t be drawing conclusions from it.
Depends on how you calculate it. Yours is by commune, which is evidently more mixed. The important point is that the young leader, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, has decided to stand down from politics, at least for a while. Evidently she doesn’t think that the next election holds much chances.
“Depends on how you calculate it.”
No it doesn’t. It’s number of votes cast. Not Depts won.
For a real informative graphic indicating distribution we’d need to see a colour scheme indicating the relative strength of each candidate across the country, not black/white winner takes which Dept.
Your misleading infographic is a well known trick in PR.
Anyway, the niece has recently split from her partner and has a toddler to look after. I believe the party places some importance on family.
Your conclusions simply aren’t supported by the evidence you’ve provided.
Unless you’ve something else.
Marine Le Pen, for example seems to be trying to change the nature of her party.
In the meantime I’d expect there to be a realignment of Conservatism and Left in France, just as there’ll be amongst the Left in the US.
I think we’ll see more of that in Western countries more generally.
These are positive developments which wouldn’t have happened without the “populism” we’ve seen in recent elections and referenda.
Omerta Rules, OK? They actually ARE above the law 🙁
Tory’s being Tories it’s obvious capital first bought out the executive branch of government; from the lobbying by parliamentarians it next bought out the venal legislative branch; and now it’s clear it owns the judicial branch too. We are in for some ugly reactionary times if Corbyn loses or is cheated, and I doubt we’ll see four more years of Tory rule without very serious unrest. Due to policies now in force there must be homeless and destitute people found dead in the streets. How about giving us those statistics? Too damning?
‘we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence’, yet it’s not in the interests of justice to let it pass.
Befehl ist Befehl.
Crooked scumbags one and all!!!
I thought ignorance was not a defence.
What a bunch of out and out crooks. Don’t forget that disrespect for A law leads to disrespect for THE law. On no account should these gangsters be allowed to govern us, what an absolute disaster that would be. EVERY vote counts on June 8th., and anyone sensible and civilised should be voting Labour.
The Head of the Crown Prosecution Service is the Attorney General who is a Member of the Cabinet aka Government. This illustrates my point about the iniquitous (Marxist) “hate crime” legislation, promoted by the Government, in which everyone can be perceived guilty, but the Government decides who’s prosecuted. Hence why “hate crime” legislation is the enemy of justice, democracy and free speech. And why its utilised by Marxism’s Siamese twin, the Neo-Cons, with spray-gun allegations of “anti-Semitism”.
The decision not to prosecute is clearly a nonsense, but now the General Election has been called (the reason it was called), is in the public interest, because the rules on campaign funding are anti-democratic too, because it is impossible to submit an accurate return of expenses and so everyone is guilty and because under fair votes its the message rather than money that makes the difference.
Again the Electoral Commission (Marxist) was set up by double-speak New Labour as a pretend promotion of democracy, but which created financial rules/hurdles that couldn’t be met, to enable ‘troublesome’ parties to be banned, when deemed necessary for financial transgressions. The solution to the influence of money is voting reform and Labour should use the scandal to make the case for this when announcing it in their manifesto.
You seem to have some strange ideas of what marxism is – here’s a clue: the british establishment whether blairite or neocon, is not marxist (imv – i thought it was self-evident though).
A random internet search gave me this quote:
“Marxism is a structural theory, as people’s actions are shaped by society and in particular the economic system. It is a conflict view of society. Marxists argue that the upper class control all of society including law and order. They therefore have control over judges, police and the government. This gives them the power to define what is right in society in the interest of themselves. Therefore there is no criminal justice system for the working class. Instead the working class believe that the system is fair due to the ideology put forward by the upper class. This is known as false class-consciousness. Marxists argue that the upper class control the definitions of deviance in four main strands. The first contribution is that laws benefit the upper class and not the population generally. This view is supported by Pearce who argues that the majority of laws in Britain and America, work in the favour of capitalism. e.g. the conservatives got rid of the super tax which the rich had to pay. Pearce argues that even the laws that appear to benefit the subject class in reality benefit the ruling class as well. Factory legislation protecting the health and safety of workers provides an example, because the system needs a healthy safe population of producers and consumers. Just as important as laws that are passed are laws that are not passed. William Chambliss (1976) supports this argument, who suggests that much of what takes place in the creation of laws is non-decision making…”
I can’t see the bit about joining in with the british establishment to help the neocons anywhere in there.
btw i’m not a marxist or an anything-ist (though neither was marx) – but marx is widely regarded as an important figure in political economy – i believe modern economists owe him a debt (even if the less thoughtful ones wouldn’t like to admit it)
I mean the Marxism as practiced in the old Soviet Union. That is officially everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. And the compulsion for legality and building legal that show a public commitment to democracy, but its all a façade.
Under “hate crime” legislation, everyone is guilty, because officially to be guilty you only have to be ‘perceived’ guilty by someone else, anywhere, to be guilty. But in practice the MSM acting on behalf of the Deep State are partisan and focus on specific “hate speech”.
And the Electoral Commission was set up by New Labour (there were/are other existing regulatory bodies, such Association of Returning Officers) as an organisation to facilitate democracy, but its obsession with funding rules, creates hurdles to obstruct democracy.
So not Marxism then, some straw man – totalitarian state controlled capitalism in fact – Soviets and Chinese revolutionaries wanted to be Marxist (at first at least), but they were so enamoured of the strict ideology that they thought that they had to have an industrial revolution before they could really get to socialism as described by marx, and neither country had got there yet; hence why both tried to do it via forced collectivisation and stuff like that (like we did with the enclosures) – with mostly terrible results (the Chinese ‘communists’ are still doing it, but they seem to have forgotten the bit where you move on from state capitalism (but then they’re very comfortable)).
It’s a bit like saying ‘that democracy is a terrible idea’ based on a corrupt elite-ridden country like America or UK – ie not really applicable. Just calling any bad thing which happens to have a political or collective element Marxist is not accurate – Marxism is a theory of how the world works based on the Hegelian concept of dialectics (thesis+antithesis=synthesis) and is a sophisticated set of philosophical and economic ideas with many versions. The idea that this complex set of ideas will somehow make you a baddie is silly – if there’s something you don’t like in the ideas, argue against them, or find a different version you do agree with – I’d just suggest to not use it as a scare word as it cheapens the argument.
All the stuff about hate crime and new labour has no relationship to Marxism I can see (unless you want to talk about another popular American strawman – ‘cultural marxism’ (Limbaugh version)), but is more a function of neoliberalism. Again I say this not as a Marxist, but just as someone who’s irritated that the right-wing strawman version of Marxism is so widespread.
The most convinced and unshakeable Marxists are private owners of capital. Does anyone believe that they do not understand what private ownership of the means of production for the purpose of capital accumulation means?
JSD
I suspect most capitalists have zero grasp of Marx.
Personally, I have only ever met one who had a good understanding. He was ex revolutionary turned cynic turned millionaire. He used to laugh at liberal jornos who pondered did his lefty/Marxist analysis gave him an insight that increased profits. He simply did what all capitalists have to do – minimise production costs. ie pay low wages, fuck external costs, reinvest in technology.etc. They don’t need Marx to learn this is what is required to survive as a business.
I think that many capitalists or oligarchs would at least have an intuitive understanding of marxism – ie that people look out for people who are like them in class terms; and this simple reality, translated into a situation of specific economic power results in the class stratified society described by marx. Similarly, us common shlubs should also look out for other people from the same class, but the elite have to make a continuous effort to divorce us from that reality so we can continue voting for xmas (‘false consciousness’ as the marxists call it – i don’t like that term though).
Semi related, i saw this quote from a douglas adams book (so long and thanks for all the fish) the other day which seems to describe our democracy pretty well:
“On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”
“Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”
“I did,” said Ford. “It is.”
“So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”
“It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”
“You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”
“Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”
“But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”
“Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in.”
Electoral fraud of any sort is totally unacceptable in a democracy. It is in he public interests to bring the persons involved to trial… Even if a judge then finds in favour of the defendant. I feel the CPS staff involved in this decision should now be reprimanded for failing to act upon evidence in a known crime.
Great to see so many are not prepared to be hoodwinked by this slight of hand trick by the Tories.
Serious questions have to be raised by this action from the CPS, they are not there to make judgments, they are there to judge if a crime has been committed, and they clearly admit it has, so it should be up to a judge and jury to decide who was culpable.
I quote all that evil needs to succeed is for good people to look on and do nothing where are the churches the ministers and priests etc and all the charities etc why are they not standing up against all this corruption? Instead of allowing these lying MPs and their flunkeis into their churches they should bar them for life they are breaking nearly all the commandments and they know it
Well why am I not surprised. They are all snakes slithering about under the radar. No wonder they all believe they are invincible. The smug lot will eventually hang tbemselves if given enough rope. Where has the honesty gone……..oh I forgot, Jeremy is about the only one and they are afraid of him so won’t to shut him up ???
I vos only obeying orders from mein Oberbrexitfuhrer. The Nurnberg defence
So we have the CPS, backing the Tories the media is also backing the Tories. It looks like the Tories, have friends in high places, we’d better mind our place.
Superb, Craig.
Theresa May is a paranoid, insecure control freak. As she is also the Prime Minister, this makes her very dangerous.
Here our truthful and a paragon of honesty PM Theresa May, wonders what all the fuss is about over her MP’s.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/10/no-conservative-election-expenses-charges-from-14-police-force-inquiries
“The prime minister said the legal authorities had “confirmed what we believed all along and said all along which was the local spending was properly reported and the candidates have done nothing wrong”.
Several Tory MP’s are now calling for the Electrol Commission to be abolished, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get their way.
If that’s a true quote Corbyn should publicly accuse her of lying and say “sue me”.