Patrick Mercer

3 Jun 2013

Legislation for a statutory register of lobbyists would be introduced by July, Downing Street has announced.
But a Liberal Democrat spokesman said that they had yet to agree to all parts of the package, adding to the impression of a rushed response to the scandal.

Mr Cameron had faced criticism over delays to reforming the rules after warning three years ago that lobbying would be the next big scandal to hit politics.

Although the idea of a register was part of the Coalition Agreement, it was not in the recent Queen’s Speech which meant it was not due to be introduced before 2014 at the earliest.

A joint investigation by The Telegraph and the BBC Panorama programme has exposed how an MP and peer were prepared to lobby Parliament in exchange for payments. The affair carried echoes of the scandal which dogged John Major’s administration in the Nineties. Under the proposed new laws, it is expected that only lobbyists who agree to regulations and sign up to a new register will be allowed to “lobby” politicians.

31 May 2013

The Telegraph and the BBC's Panorama have been investigating the former shadow minister over a major lobbying scandal and is poised to publish a series of revelations about Mr Mercer tomorrow.

He was yesterday asked questions over his activities and was expected to be suspended from the Parliamentary Conservative party this evening.

However, the Conservative MP for Newark is thought to have resigned the whip and is poised to make a statement.

The scandal, details of which will be exposed by The Telegraph and Panorama, involved Mr Mercer lobbying on behalf of Fiji.

Parliamentary records show that he asked a question about the regime's suspension from the Commonwealth and put down an Early Day Motion - a device used by MPs to draw attention to certain causes.

THE UNOFFICIAL PRISON DIARIES CHAPTER 1

A series of publications using official records, contemporaneous notes, prison applications, and forensic documents that were not available for the trial, but have since been published as a result of a compilation of advanced clinical trials conducted outside the United Kingdom (where the UK does not support such research). These unofficial volumes are not for publication in the UK, until the appeals of the subject have been finally disposed of.

In what could be an eye opener for the Ministry of Justice, this is the first in a trilogy of diaries that shows how any man (men in particular) can be falsely accused and convicted by a doe-eyed bambi, given the right circumstances. No man is safe until the law is changed back to where it was before 2003. After 2003 a man accused of a sexual offence is guilty until he proves his innocence, rather than innocent until proven guilty. According to Article 6, a person accused of a crime shall be presumed innocent.

These Chapters also highlight flaws in the British appeal system, where a Legal Aid is set so low that Barristers don't follow procedural etiquette, because it would take too much of their time. Time, is of course money. Without the money available for proper representation, Article 6(3) cannot be complied with

This man was convicted on junk science. You'll have to wait for the subjects appeals in the ECHR to conclude before this book is published. But you can contact us in strict confidence if you have information that might help us lobby for change, or you would like information for a case.

LINKS

http://theprisonersdiaries.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/are-britains-prisons-turning-into-factories

http://www.bobbysandstrust.com/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2039225/TLC-Prison-Diaries-Inside-mind-Emilia-Carr-death-row.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/Norways-controversial-cushy-prison-experiment-catch-UK.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2301717.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2305603.stm