I was reading this article about the Reform MP, James McMurdock.
The Times - Reform MP James McMurdock was jailed for repeatedly kicking girlfriend
The main thrust of the article is that during the election the guy was dishonest about his past conviction:
McMurdock said previously: “A generous person might call it a teenage indiscretion, but I do not expect everyone to be so kind. Nearly 20 years ago, at 19 years of age, at the end of a night out together, we argued, and I pushed her. She fell over and she was hurt.”
Whereas court records released under FOI show that:
The Times applied to the courts for information from the official record of his conviction, which was released on Wednesday. It states that the reason for his custodial sentence was “kicking to victim on around four times”.
and
…the victim’s mother accused him of having “left marks on her body” and said that “it took two security guards to pull him off her”.
He sounds like a lovely guy really…! However, I’m more interested in the wider question of whether people with criminal records should be allowed to stand for election in the first place.
According to the Times, “Only persons imprisoned at the time of the election for a sentence of more than one year are barred from standing.” In my line of work, having a criminal record would be a largely unsurmountable barrier to entry, yet it seems you can become a politician.
Should ex-convicts be barred from becoming an MP?
