Just to preempt the “he should be in prison” comments, as this is a police inquiry he will not be required to resign unless he is found guilty and sentenced to more than a year in prison, and has run out of appeals.
Of course there is nothing stopping the Conservative Party from withdrawing the whip if they feel he is distracting from their work, but even then he can sit as an independent MP until he resigns, or the next election.
Innocent until proven guilty does apply even to politicians you don’t like.
Not a uk citizen here. Am I understanding this correctly that even if he is found guilty of rape, but is not sentenced to more than a year of prison, and/or has the ability to object to his sentence, he can remain in office? What the fuck.
The rule of a 12 month sentence before a recall petition can be triggered is regardless of crime, it’s not a specific “get away with rape” clause. In fact if he is found guilty it’s very unlikely he’d get such a short sentence, the 12 months is more to stop an MP losing their job over not paying their council tax, or too many speeding tickets.
The big problem is our rape conviction rates are a shameful embarrassment so by the stats of it, if he did commit the crime he’s incredibly unlikely to be sentenced. And even if he was, it’s unlikely to be before there’s a general election.
the 12 months is more to stop an MP losing their job over not paying their council tax, or too many speeding tickets
To me that’s pretty bonkers. Twelve months is 20% of a full parliamentary term! It should be set at any non suspended custodial sentence. How can an MP represent their constituency from a prison cell? Are they going to hold surgeries in the visiting room?
Just to preempt the “he should be in prison” comments, as this is a police inquiry he will not be required to resign unless he is found guilty and sentenced to more than a year in prison, and has run out of appeals.
Of course there is nothing stopping the Conservative Party from withdrawing the whip if they feel he is distracting from their work, but even then he can sit as an independent MP until he resigns, or the next election.
Innocent until proven guilty does apply even to politicians you don’t like.
He’s standing down at the next election anyway, I believe.
Yeah, at least that’s what he said when he was defending another sexual abuser https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/02/conservative-mp-crispin-blunt-to-step-down-at-next-election
I wonder if he was already under investigation at that point? It’s only five months ago.
Not a uk citizen here. Am I understanding this correctly that even if he is found guilty of rape, but is not sentenced to more than a year of prison, and/or has the ability to object to his sentence, he can remain in office? What the fuck.
The rule of a 12 month sentence before a recall petition can be triggered is regardless of crime, it’s not a specific “get away with rape” clause. In fact if he is found guilty it’s very unlikely he’d get such a short sentence, the 12 months is more to stop an MP losing their job over not paying their council tax, or too many speeding tickets.
The big problem is our rape conviction rates are a shameful embarrassment so by the stats of it, if he did commit the crime he’s incredibly unlikely to be sentenced. And even if he was, it’s unlikely to be before there’s a general election.
To me that’s pretty bonkers. Twelve months is 20% of a full parliamentary term! It should be set at any non suspended custodial sentence. How can an MP represent their constituency from a prison cell? Are they going to hold surgeries in the visiting room?