{"id":186328,"date":"2019-04-07T08:09:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T08:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186328"},"modified":"2019-04-09T07:37:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T07:37:39","slug":"parliament-aint-just-bad-its-criminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186328","title":{"rendered":"Parliament ain&#8217;t just bad &#8211; it\u2019s criminal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>RICHARD LITTLEJOHN on jailbird MP Fiona Onasanya casting the deciding vote on the latest Stop Brexit manoeuvre<\/em><\/h2>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Richard Littlejohn \u2013 Daily Mail April 5, 2019<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_186330\" style=\"width: 190px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Onasanya.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186330\" class=\"wp-image-186330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Onasanya.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Onasanya.jpg 306w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Onasanya-147x300.jpg 147w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-186330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fiona Onasanya. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Just when you thought Parliament couldn\u2019t sink any lower, along comes jailbird MP Fiona Onasanya to cast the deciding vote in favour of the latest Stop <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/brexit\/index.html\"><strong>Brexit<\/strong><\/a> manoeuvre.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Onasanya walked through the voting lobby wearing the electronic ankle tag with which she was fitted after being released early from HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Her participation ensured that the Bill to change the law so that Britain can\u2019t leave the EU without a \u2018deal\u2019 passed by the narrowest of margins, 313 to 312.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Onasanya, MP for Peterborough, served just 28 days of a three-month sentence for perverting the course of justice, after repeatedly lying to police to avoid a speeding fine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">If she had been forced to complete her full term she would still have been in prison and, therefore, unable to vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Such is the desperation of those determined to defy the democratic will of the British people that they are prepared to rely on the help of a convicted criminal to get their way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">We now live in a country where the vote of a single, disgraced MP outweighs the votes of 17.4 million people in a referendum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">If the division had been held any earlier in the day, Onasanya may not have been able to take part. She rushed to Westminster from an industrial tribunal, where she is accused of discriminating against a disabled employee who was told to use the men\u2019s toilet because she couldn\u2019t climb the stairs. You couldn\u2019t make it up, especially as Onasanya isn\u2019t shy when it comes to using the discrimination card to air her own grievances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Over the years, we\u2019ve seen sick MPs stretchered in to the House to take part in crucial votes. As recently as last summer, the Labour MP Naz Shah was pushed through the lobby in a wheelchair, dosed up on morphine, and with a bucket on her lap, just in case she threw up while casting her vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">But Onasanya is the first MP who has turned up to vote wearing an ankle tag, while technically still serving a custodial sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">She had previously voted against Theresa May\u2019s withdrawal agreement. This is regardless of the fact that more than 60 per cent of her constituents in Peterborough voted Leave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">She\u2019s currently fighting a recall petition aimed at forcing her to stand down and face a by-election. She can\u2019t be kicked out automatically because her sentence was less than 12 months. Despite her conviction, and her appeal being turned down by three judges, Onasanya continues to protest her innocence both in public and on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">She recently appeared in a bizarre YouTube video with the New York skyline in the background. It looked as if she was auditioning for the old David Letterman show. The current king of late-night TV in America, Britain\u2019s James Corden, might have to look to his laurels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Heeeere\u2019s Fiona!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It can only be a matter of time before she features on Car Pool Karaoke, singing I Fought The Law (And The Law Won)!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Labour Party withdrew the whip after she was convicted, but we\u2019re told nothing could be done to stop her voting in the Commons. Really? I\u2019m sure Speaker Bercow could have come up with some arcane rule which would have prevented her casting a vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">After all, he\u2019s already reached back to the 1600s in his apparent determination to Stop Brexit. And he continues to tear up the rule book and override precedent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Bill to extend Article 50 was rammed through in just four hours. Bercow\u2019s behaviour has been described as a \u2018constitutional outrage\u2019 by Brexiteers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Outside the Westminster Bubble, most people would think that allowing a convicted criminal wearing an ankle tag to cast the deciding vote on a crucial Bill affecting Britain\u2019s future was also a constitutional outrage<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Yet the Speaker and the other 312 MPs who voted in favour of the motion, put forward by Oliver Leftwing and Pixie Balls-Cooper, could see nothing wrong with Onasanya helping their cause. They would have been screaming blue murder if she\u2019d voted the other way. You can bet your life that Bercow would have come up with something, anything, to stop that happening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">You might also have hoped that one, just one, \u2018honourable\u2019 member planning to vote in favour would have been seized by a pang of conscience and abstained, to cancel out Onasanya\u2019s vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">But no. As far as the Remain headbangers are concerned, Brexit must be derailed at any cost, even if that means the last vestiges of decency being thrown out of the window.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">To make matters worse, Onasanya wasn\u2019t the only crooked MP allowed to vote this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Tory Chris Davies, member for Brecon and Radnorshire, trooped through the lobby while awaiting sentencing for fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">He pleaded guilty in March to two counts of forgery and one count of providing false and misleading claims, relating to his election expenses. He, too, faces a recall petition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Davies actually voted against the motion, so his vote did cancel out Onasanya\u2019s. But that\u2019s not the point. Neither of them should have been taking part.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">One is still serving her sentence, even if she\u2019s not behind bars where she belongs. The other has admitted his crimes and is awaiting his fate. Both have forfeited their right to sit as MPs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/debate\/article-6888683\/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Fiona-Onasanya-casting-deciding-vote-latest-Stop-Brexit-manoeuvre.html\">Continues \u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Littlejohn on jailbird MP Fiona Onasanya casting the deciding vote on the latest Stop Brexit manoeuvre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186331,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186328\/revisions\/186331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}