Members of Parliament are elected by and to serve their constituents and, therefore, by implication, should be honest and law-abiding. Over recent years, however, an ever-increasing number of these MPs have fallen foul of the law or acted dishonestly or immorally in one way or another.
This may have always been the case, but the public may have been unaware of the problem. However, with the advent of the internet and instant news coverage, details of any such irregularity are broadcast far and wide, and such events occur almost immediately.
Recently, calls for resignation were made regarding MP Michelle Donelan. The 39-year-old identifies as a Christian and is a serving Member of Parliament for the Chippenham Constituency in Wiltshire and the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology.
On her website, she states, “It was an honour to be first elected to serve our community in 2015” and that her family taught her “… to work hard and make the most of every opportunity that came my way.” Donelan is also “… passionate about our community—I never take for granted the trust that you have bestowed upon me.” These are all very fine words, and it can be assumed that these or similar statements are replicated on the websites of many other MPs.
So, it was surprising that Donelan was the subject of a libel action because she suggested that Professor Kate Sang of Heriot-Watt University had expressed sympathy for Hamas and shared extremist views without, it seems, any evidence.
Consequently, Donelan was named in a libel action by Sang, which resulted in her department paying Sang compensation, which the government admitted to be £15,000, and possibly legal costs, but “without admitting any liability.”
Rather than settling this herself, the taxpayer faces the bill for the indiscretions of those appointed to serve us despite Donelan earning £154,000 per year. However, it has just been revealed that the total sum the taxpayer has forked out is in the order of £34,000, more than double the sum previously announced by the government!
Labour and Liberal Democrats, amongst others, had demanded Donelan pay back the originally announced figure of £15,000. Although they are not wrong, this seems somewhat hypocritical when considering their party indiscretions.
Many have demanded Donelan resign as her actions have fallen far short of those expected of a minister, and the announcement of the revised figure only compounds the seriousness of this problem.
It may also be of interest that Donelan is married to Tom Turner, whose family firm, Stronghold Global, a procurement company, has had government supply contracts in recent years. An investigation by Good Law Project found that the company was awarded numerous PPE contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds, supplying NHS hospitals, government covid testing sites and universities.
However, the government advised that there was no conflict of interest. It is little wonder that our people no longer trust nor respect those elected to lead us and are looking for something new and exciting. The Homeland Party is just beginning, but one day, it will restore that trust.
