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Local politician banged up

September 4th, 2007 · Posted by Skuds in Politics · 1 Comment · Politics

Nobody likes to see a 71-year-old man sent to prison, but when they are an ex-UKIP MEP its a bit harder to find sympathy, especially when they have been flirting with the various far-right groupings in the European Parliament.

My favourite bits of the story:

Mr Donne said Mote had worked tirelessly for the European Parliament, travelling extensively to meet his constituents as well as attending meetings and acting as a “thorn” in the side of the European Union by “exposing corruption”.

If he is so keen on exposing corruption, I wonder why he tried to have reporting restrictions imposed on his court case. That was after his attempts to claim legal immunity from prosecution failed.

The court heard that Mote ran a successful public relations company employing 30 full-time staff until it collapsed in 1990

It was a successful company until it failed? Isn’t that a bit like someone jumping out of a tall building and claiming a successful unpowered flight right up to the point they hit the pavement?

My least favourite parts of the story:

The offences, totalling £65,506, occurred between February 1996 and September 2002 while Mote was living in Langley, Crawley [*]

In other words, well before he was elected. But its worse than that – he knew that proceedings were imminent and managed to keep it quiet until straight after his election. Would so many voters have gone for UKIP if they had known? Worst of all:

But 71-year-old Ashley Mote, a former Ukip representative, will retain his seat in Europe because he would only have been disqualified if he had received a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months.

Will he still get paid for the 9 months he is unable to do his job? Will he do the honourable thing and resign?

[*] Some confusion here. I think its Langley, West Sussex and not Langley Green in Crawley, West Sussex.

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One Comment so far ↓

  • Danivon

    I think we both wrote our posts at the same time. Snap!. The Beeb reports him as being in Langley, West Sussex (near Liss, right in the far north western corner of the county). I’m hoping that that is more accurate.