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The front page of today’s Daily Mail puts it quite succinctly: ‘Thieves’ who think they’re above the law’.
It refers, of course, to the three MPs and one peer who appeared yesterday in the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court to face charges under the Thefts Act. Their lawyers argued that the allegations against them should be considered by parliamentary authorities instead of a jury as they were protected from criminal prosecution by the right of parliamentary privilege, dating back to the Bill of Rights of 1689.
The parliamentarians also asked to be spared the humiliation of being forced to stand in the dock at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Both requests were quickly denied, and the four men pleaded not guilty and were bailed to appear at Southwark Crown Court at the end of the month, with the judge reminding them that they would be entitled to reduction in sentences if they pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
The appearance of the four men was accompanied by extraordinary scenes outside the court where protesters, one dressed as Guy Fawkes and another as a pig, made the feelings of the ordinary man quite clear.
As if there was any doubt!
.
The front page of today’s Daily Mail puts it quite succinctly: ‘Thieves’ who think they’re above the law’.
It refers, of course, to the three MPs and one peer who appeared yesterday in the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court to face charges under the Thefts Act. Their lawyers argued that the allegations against them should be considered by parliamentary authorities instead of a jury as they were protected from criminal prosecution by the right of parliamentary privilege, dating back to the Bill of Rights of 1689.
The parliamentarians also asked to be spared the humiliation of being forced to stand in the dock at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Both requests were quickly denied, and the four men pleaded not guilty and were bailed to appear at Southwark Crown Court at the end of the month, with the judge reminding them that they would be entitled to reduction in sentences if they pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
The appearance of the four men was accompanied by extraordinary scenes outside the court where protesters, one dressed as Guy Fawkes and another as a pig, made the feelings of the ordinary man quite clear.
As if there was any doubt!
.
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