‘Industrial scale’ benefit cheat fails to quit as MEP

Anthony Butcher · 21-09-2007, 11:30 AM

Industrial Scale Benefit Cheat Fails To Quit As Mep (from This Is Local London)

Quote:

An MEP who was jailed for nine months for falsely claiming benefits of more than £65,000 has been widely criticised by his contemporaries for failing to resign.
Former UK Independence Party MEP Ashley Mote, 71, who represents the south-east including Surrey, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on September 4.
He will keep his job because automatic disqualification from his seat only comes with a sentence of 12 months or longer.
He had wrongly claimed income support and benefits totalling £65,506 between February 1996 and September 2002, after failing to inform the benefits office he was working.
Mote was elected as an MEP in 2004 as a member of UKIP, but the party soon threw him out when they discovered the charges against him.
MEP Daniel Hannan, whose constituency is in Bookham, said: "If he had a shred of decency he would have resigned. This is not a petty case of keeping quiet about additional benefits. This was on an industrial scale."
Phillip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, said: "I think someone convicted of a serious criminal offence can't remain in a position as a representative and a law-maker."
A spokesman for Mr Mote decline to comment, but said Mr Mote was considering an appeal on his sentence.

Aardvark · 21-09-2007, 01:35 PM

When I started the thread 'A summer of humiliation beckons' this is what I expected.

gimlet · 21-09-2007, 01:48 PM

We can put the blame onto the judge, who I suspect knew of the 12 month rule. If Mote had be jailed for over a year, iIt would have sent a clear message to the political class,- also common justice would have prevailed.

Aardvark · 15-11-2007, 06:01 PM

Yep, and 9 months doesn't even mean 9 weeks. Most of it was spent in an open prison.

mkpdavies · 15-11-2007, 06:27 PM

Still an MEP. What a farce our "democracy" is.

Populist Lee · 15-11-2007, 08:03 PM

On the other hand.
If UKIP hadn't been so gung ho to get MEPs elected in the first place . . .
. . . there would not be any of this *embarrassment*.

Mote would have been convicted, and almost no one would know who he is.

21-09-2007, 01:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
Aardvark Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Oxonia Posts: 3,928	When I started the thread 'A summer of humiliation beckons' this is what I expected. __________________ When in Woking do as the Wokes do. "I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

15-11-2007, 06:01 PM	#4 (permalink)
Aardvark Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Oxonia Posts: 3,928	Yep, and 9 months doesn't even mean 9 weeks. Most of it was spent in an open prison. __________________ When in Woking do as the Wokes do. "I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

15-11-2007, 06:27 PM	#5 (permalink)
mkpdavies Uber Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Woking Posts: 30,820	Still an MEP. What a farce our "democracy" is. __________________ http://brits4ronpaul.blogspot.com/ http://wokinglibertarians.blogspot.com/ http://lpuk.org My ignore list Labour, Blue Labour, Lib Dems

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

LinkBacks (?) LinkBack to this Thread: http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/ukip-general-issues/41717-industrial-scale-benefit-cheat-fails-quit-mep.html
Posted By	For	Type	Date
UKIP General Issues - British Democracy Forum (& UKIP)	This thread	Refback	21-09-2007 05:45 PM

21-09-2007, 01:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
gimlet Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Shropshire Posts: 832	We can put the blame onto the judge, who I suspect knew of the 12 month rule. If Mote had be jailed for over a year, iIt would have sent a clear message to the political class,- also common justice would have prevailed.

15-11-2007, 08:03 PM	#6 (permalink)
Populist Lee Uber Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,170 Party: Other	On the other hand. If UKIP hadn't been so gung ho to get MEPs elected in the first place . . . . . . there would not be any of this embarrassment. Mote would have been convicted, and almost no one would know who he is.