Abuse of Privilege
I was no fan of Denis McShane but will not take any pleasure in the downfall of the former Europe minister and Labour MP, who pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of false accounting, claiming at least £13,000 of taxpayer's money on his expenses through artificial invoices.
Stealing from the taxpayer when in a position of trust is absolutely wrong whether the culprit is of Tory, Labour, Lib/Dem, Nationalist, UKIP or any other political persuasion and brings all politics into disrepute.
The McShane case also shows up the good and bad side of parliamentary privilege.
I recently read Nick Cohen's excellent analysis You Can't Read This Book, (actually you can and should read it). That book points out that parliamentary privilege - the fact that MPs can say whatever they like in parliament without being sued for libel, and that journalists reporting accurately on what has been said in parliament cannot be sued either, as that would be contempt of parliament - is one of the few countervailing forces which can be used to prevent rich individuals or companies suppressing the publication of unwelcome truths about themselves by claiming those truths to be lies, bringing an action for libel, and relying on the preposterous costs to both sides of a libel action deterring all byt the most determined and wealthy from persisting in their criticisms.
The art of using the courts in this way was perfected by the late and unlamented Bob Maxwell (another corrupt former Labour MP) but to our national shame, the British courts have allowed themselves through libel tourism to become the world centre for the rich and powerful to try to suppress unwelcome statements.
One of the few ways to overcome this is if any MP raises a concern in the House of Commons. We need that privilege to continue.
Which makes what McShane did all the more indefensible - he abused a privilege which we as ordinary citizens need MPs to have in the public interest, in order to prevent the police finding out about the criminal activity to which he pleaded guilty yesterday.
For several years McShane successfully used parliamentary privilege to prevent prosecutors seeing the correspondence in which he admitted to manipulating his expenses claims.
There are honest politicians and there are good reasons for parliamentary privilege, and people like McShane have brought them into disrepute too.
Stealing from the taxpayer when in a position of trust is absolutely wrong whether the culprit is of Tory, Labour, Lib/Dem, Nationalist, UKIP or any other political persuasion and brings all politics into disrepute.
The McShane case also shows up the good and bad side of parliamentary privilege.
I recently read Nick Cohen's excellent analysis You Can't Read This Book, (actually you can and should read it). That book points out that parliamentary privilege - the fact that MPs can say whatever they like in parliament without being sued for libel, and that journalists reporting accurately on what has been said in parliament cannot be sued either, as that would be contempt of parliament - is one of the few countervailing forces which can be used to prevent rich individuals or companies suppressing the publication of unwelcome truths about themselves by claiming those truths to be lies, bringing an action for libel, and relying on the preposterous costs to both sides of a libel action deterring all byt the most determined and wealthy from persisting in their criticisms.
The art of using the courts in this way was perfected by the late and unlamented Bob Maxwell (another corrupt former Labour MP) but to our national shame, the British courts have allowed themselves through libel tourism to become the world centre for the rich and powerful to try to suppress unwelcome statements.
One of the few ways to overcome this is if any MP raises a concern in the House of Commons. We need that privilege to continue.
Which makes what McShane did all the more indefensible - he abused a privilege which we as ordinary citizens need MPs to have in the public interest, in order to prevent the police finding out about the criminal activity to which he pleaded guilty yesterday.
For several years McShane successfully used parliamentary privilege to prevent prosecutors seeing the correspondence in which he admitted to manipulating his expenses claims.
There are honest politicians and there are good reasons for parliamentary privilege, and people like McShane have brought them into disrepute too.
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