Chris Davies MP pleads guilty

Mark 6 Comments

I keep a kindly eye on those MPs who spoke in the ‘debate’ over banning driven grouse shooting in October 2016. One, the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire described me thus;

‘Only the other week I had the privilege of attending the evidence session on grouse shooting. Several right hon. and hon. Members have already referred to Mr Mark Avery, who was on the first panel to give evidence, along with the RSPB. I understand that he is a former employee of the RSPB. It was interesting to hear his evidence, which seemed to be based on ideology and prejudice. He wanted driven grouse shooting to be banned, whereas his former employer wanted no such thing. I want it to go on record that the RSPB does not want to see grouse shooting banned.’https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-10-31/debates/06472E95-10EC-49A0-BF93-84CAD2BE4191/DrivenGrouseShooting

Mr Davies has pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false expenses claim. Sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? The District Judge sounded quite stern.

How high is my schadenfreude? Not that high really. What he did doesn’t sound the worst thing in the world to me … but maybe I am going soft.

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6 Replies to “Chris Davies MP pleads guilty”

  1. I disliked, sorry. The reputation of politicians and Parliament is at all all time low but we can’t have a country without them. The loss of trust and respect is highly damaging to democracy and things like fraudulent expenses claims just add to the feeling of disillusionment.

    Whether you agree with the man’s politics or not, we need and deserve better personal conduct than this. Same goes for Ms Labour attempted speeding ticket dodger.

    It’s not a small matter at all. Grrrrrrr.

  2. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (now Knighted!) also spoke in the “debate” and his nephew, Archie has been in the news lately re: Thurlow Fox Hunt. Not that Sir Geoffrey is responsible for his nephew’s action but maybe representative of the dynastic family’s culture.

  3. JBC

    I agree. These are our lawmakers. They, plus the incumbents in ‘the other place’, should behave in an exemplary fashion, to set an example, and for me, most importantly, because they have the power to make the laws.

    I would expect, if I submitted my expenses such that I broke the law, and was found guilty, to lose my job, and quite possibly struggle to regain employment in a similar level of responsibility.

    I doubt Mr Davies will suffer a similar consequence, unless the good folk in his constituency decide via the ballot box.

    This is not a trivial matter.

    Personally, if an MP is found guilty, and receives a custodial sentence, of any length, they should be disbarred from a position where they can influence lawmaking. May be temporarily, e.g. 6 months, or the next GE (whichever is sooner). Or an immediate by-election which they can stand as an independent and thus face the electorate.

  4. It may be one of those apocryphal stories but then again it may not – MPs are more likely to go to prison than the same number of ordinary Clapham omnibus users. If you add in all the criminal local politicians then the numbers get quite scary – being a crim looks like a requisite qualification. Which makes it all the more weirder for people to frequently write letters to them. Why not become a Prison Visitor, for a more effective personal touch.

  5. Or perhaps just save time energy money and incarcerate all of them, indefinitely, without appeal, with this https://youtu.be/-IL2XwSkFJQ on a video loop in their cells, with no volume on/off control.

    Warning – contains rude words

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