UK Politics

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Political figures who bet on election date will not face police charges, Met says (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The key bit is:

“Based on the assessment of the evidence and the advice from the CPS, it was determined that the high bar for misconduct in public office to be proven was not met,” it added.

It was always going to be tricky getting them on this charge but the Gambling Commission just need to prove they were cheating when they placed those bets.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

What does

high bar for misconduct in public office

actually mean? Do they have to murder and skull fuck someone on live TV or something before the CPS actually investigates?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Pretty much.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yep.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

misconduct in public office

This seems to be the key bit

“The words “acting as such” plainly mean acting in the discharge of the duties of the office… Misconduct in public office bites on breaches of duties, which constituted the offence itself… the offence will only be made out if the manner in which the specific powers or duties of the office are discharged brings the misconduct within its ambit. Consequently, at the time of the alleged misconduct the individual must be acting as, not simply whilst, a public official… No authority was shown to us suggesting that the offence can be or has been equated to bringing an office into disrepute or misusing a platform outside the scope of the office.”

I imagine its fairly hard to make the case they were acting as MPs while making the bets instead of merely acting while being MPs. The gambling offences seem much more likely to stick.