When someone as distinguished as Lord Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, writes to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Met Police chief, and the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, people should take sit up and take notice.
The extraordinary story that senior people in Downing Street and the Conservative Party were prepared to either bribe people with peerages or offer other inducements such as jobs, presumably funded by the taxpayer to stand down in a general election is almost unbelievable.
Not since David Lloyd George, a former Liberal PM, was involved in handing out peerages has this ever happened in British politics. And if anything this is almost Trumpian in its excess – only that the Prime Minister would not get impeached in this country if he allowed it.
I am not surprised that Downing Street and the Conservative Party is desperately trying to deny it happened – as they would know it was a criminal offence.
I am reproducing the letter in full here:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
15 November 2019
Dear Director and Dame Cressida,
I wish to raise with you as a matter of urgency a number of recent reports in which senior figures in the Brexit Party have alleged that some of their candidates had been approached by the Conservative Party in an effort to persuade them to withdraw their candidacies from the upcoming General Election.
On 14 November the Leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage MEP, tweeted that “Boris Johnson’s Chief Strategic Adviser Sir Edward Lister is calling our candidates and offering them jobs if they withdraw”.[i]
The following day Mr Farage said that candidates from his party had come “under intimidation” from the Conservative Party, and added that “officials from Number 10 ringing up candidates and offering them jobs if they stand down.”
Mr Farage also claimed that he, along with eight “senior figures” in his party, were offered peerages.[ii] Meanwhile, it was reported on Thursday that one Brexit Party candidate, Anne Widecombe, was told she would be part of the government’s post-election Brexit negotiating team if she stood down, according to senior Brexit party officials.[ii
Today, Ms Widdecombe has given an interview to the BBC confirming that she had received multiple phone calls from a figure in No. 10 attempting to persuade her to stand down and offering inducements to do so:
“I was rung up twice by somebody at No 10.The first time it was really about how I had a moral obligation to stand down. It was all that kind of stuff. The second time it was to say that if I did stand down, I would be offered ‘a role in the negotiations’.” Anne Widdecombe, BBC News, 15 November 2019
On the 11 November, Mr Farage announced that his party would not stand candidates in 317 seats won by the Conservatives in 2017, but would be standing candidates in all other seats in Great Britain. However, since then at least two Brexit Party candidates have withdrawn from seats which the Conservative Party did not win in 2017.[iv]
I believe these allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of the upcoming General Election, and in particular whether senior individuals at CCHQ or No. 10 have breached two sections of the Representation of the People Act 1983 namely:
s.107: Any person who corruptly induces or procures any other person to withdraw from being a candidate at an election, in consideration of any payment or promise of payment, and any person withdrawing in pursuance of the inducement or procurement, shall be guilty of an illegal payment. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2
And/or s. 113 (2): (2) A person shall be guilty of bribery if he, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf— (c) makes any such gift or procurement [gives money or procured an office] as mentioned above to or for any person in order to induce that person to procure, or endeavour to procure, the return of any person at an election or the vote of any voter,or if upon or in consequence of any such gift or procurement as mentioned above he procures or engages, promises or endeavours to procure the return of any person at an election or the vote of any voter. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/72
Given that ‘payment’ is defined in s.118 of the 1983 Act as meaning “any pecuniary or other reward”, this would indicate that s. 107 is wide enough to cover promises of the kind alleged to have been made in this case. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2/section/118
I also bring to your attention s.1 (2) of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, which states: If any person gives, or agrees or proposes to give, or offers to any person any gift, money or valuable consideration as an inducement or reward for procuring or assisting or endeavouring to procure the grant of a dignity or title of honour to any person, or otherwise in connection with such a grant, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/72
Furthermore, as breaches of the 1983 Act may have taken place, pursuant to s. 181 of the 1983 Act, I am formally requesting that the Director of Public Prosecutions do institute the necessary investigations and commence such prosecutions as he sees fit. Finally, as a senior civil servant has been named in these allegations, I am also sending a copy of this letter to the Head of the Civil Service, Sir Mark Sedwill.
Sincerely, Lord Falconer
Footnotes: Nigel Farage, Twitter, 14 November 2019, https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1195010065947869186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Et weetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1195010065947869186&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com% 2Fpolitics%2F2019%2Fnov%2F14%2Fnigel-farage-says-he-is-unlikely-to-vote-for-any-party-in-election
Sky News, 15 November 2019, https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-farage-claims-no-10- offered-brexit-party-candidates-jobs-to-stand-down-11861383
Guardian, 14 November 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/14/nigel-farage-sayshe-is-unlikely-to-vote-for-any-party-in-election
Express, 15 November 2019, https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1204603/nigel-farage-newsbrexit-party-general-election-2019-news-Rupert-Lowe
One really has to ask what lengths will these people go to ” fix ” the election result.
Westminster Confidential 
I am sure not a one of the 50’s born women will be surprised at anything this shower do anymore.
Lies, fraudulent malpractice, manipulation, intimidation, bribery, corruption these are what we’ve all come to expect. There own party members Rhys Mogg is put in a cupboard somewhere so he can’t mess things up for them more than he already has.
Sadly honesty, compassion and form of empathy for those less fortunate than themselves were long gone.
It has to be said and I put my hands up here I have voted Conservative in the past. I believe there are still the odd few within the party with some sort of ethics. However the vast majority are sheep being herded off a cliff by a egotistical maniac, who is power crazed. He will win at any cost so conservative members do not expect any form of loyalty once he has achieved his goal.
I’m disgusted by the Conservative parties antics, they’ve been taken to court more times than I can count . They’ve covered over more lies and malpractices than any party I’ve ever seen. The clock is ticking and they will get their dues.. the higher they climb the further they will fall.
Don’t think there will be many out there holding any form of safety net.
Dee
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The Conservative Party are rotten to the core and using our money (the Tax Payers) to fund their bribery and corruption is despicable,these Peer and MP jobs have to be paid for. The Election should be halted until it has been fully investigated, once again fraud at the hand of the Conservatives to go along with the fraud of stealing out Pensions, shame on you.
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There has always been bribery and corruption in parliament whats new in that all the parties are in disarray no one as one another’s back they are so intent in getting in to No 10 the knives are out gang of parasites not worth anyone’s vote
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I’m not sure all this is believable when NIGEL FARAGE Himself is NOT standing for a parliment seat in the G Election and a lot of rumours false promises spread like a rash from all parties at Election time. as for
Anne Widdicombe all she as done is insult and undermind us 50s Ladies. voting for the Brexit party is a wasted vote and the way they have put candidates in only Labour seated places shows they support the conservatives anyway so what exactly is the problem here?? I dont fully understand politics I hold my hand up to it. but what I do understand and know is we are living in a mixed up mess of a kingdom and all politicians are as bad as each other. but don’t want to waste my vote so the Jury is out debating and as not reached a verdict yet! but will make a decision by 12th dec hopefully. the one thing to remember here is they will all promise the world and deliver nothing…..
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Then we have one simple question who do we vote for?
Answer not the conservative government.
If there is a a modicum of truth in what Lord Falconer is saying why would you give them your vote.
Boris Johnson would do and say anything to keep the key to Number 10 Downing Street.
With the exception of giving 50s woman any chance of full restitution of the pension fund stolen from us.
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Simon Kuper in an article in the FT magazine 19`6 stated, “Buying into other people’s political systems is a bright idea that is conquering the world. Various trends in post-1990 globalisation have encouraged it: ever more countries at least pretend to hold elections; ever more major powers (notably China, Russia and Qatar) seek influence abroad; ever more national economies have opened to foreign investment; and ever more billionaires can afford to buy foreign elections..
The above is the real driving force behind what seems to amount to bribery, and maybe corruption and the breaking of our electoral laws. There is a feeling this is not even an election at all in the way elections where held in the pre globalised world in the UK. Many focus on the Internet and its effects on the outcome, the Press in the past I would say had more influence on voters behaviour the Zinoviev letter for an example was a fraudulent document published by the British Daily Mail newspaper four days before the general election in 1924.
This election is being held supposedly to get over Parliament’s impasse over Brexit and to carry out the Will of the People, but when I hear this another phrase comes to mind: Lenin’s !All power to the Soviets” which really meant all power to Lenin. You see Parliament’s cannot bind their successor and so the Benn amendment will be repealed by Executive degree. Then if Mr Johnson becomes PM., he will claim he as mandate and by executive degree will give us a No Deal Mandate, exactly what Bill Cash & company wanted from day one.
Yet Cash and Company have themselves being used unwittingly by other forces whose real objective was not to overturn the Health and Safety or the hundreds and thousands of rules that in most cases would be adopted into British Law. This then leads to us the real question why we are leaving.
The answer is certain politicians are there not to represent the people, forget that nonsense they are there to protect property and assets of Global companies, Multi -Nationals , Trillionaires, Billionaires , and most of all the British Financial Empire based in British Islands around the globe.
You see the EU brought in a tax directive which will be implemented in 2020 and it will the taxman to do what he has been doing to the rest of us for years making them pay tax.
The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire is a documentary released in Mexico in July 2017 which details the transformation of the UK as a colonial super power to a global financial power yet we are constantly informed of the UK’s decline . Yet if we had the tax revenues think of the infrastructure projects, improvements to the Health Services etc, So when our PM [promises us our own money for his projects ask him if the people he really campaigns for would like to contribute as well.
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John Ward thinks the same
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/analysis-why-the-cult-of-certainty-is-demographically-divisive/?unapproved=846895&moderation-hash=5d80d766312b8bc599ead188e9c7ed13#comment-846895
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David I will not charge for my reply which was larger than the original article lol
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“The House Cards” (TV Series showing how corrupt the top MPS etc can be) could learn something from our own UK Prime Minister and Mps i have never seen such a bunch of corrupt politician in my life as we have now …. The Tory Party have form in buckets of corruption over the last 3 and half years….. Respect in ones Country comes from the supposed elite or our Government /Parliament….The problem we have in this country we have a Tory Government /Parliament who have broken Democracy over the past 9 years “They have no Shame” not one bit of remorse and they have not stopped being devious..We have a Prime Minister of the UK who was once in charge of a magazine and at the time he slagged of Scotland /North of England members of public. and now Northern Ireland ..Boris has slagged of half the UK population. How can it be that this person is fit to be Prime Minister..If you live in the lower half of the UK ie London and Boris has not slagged your part of the UK you may say or think who gives a Crap ……But that is not the problem Boris has slagged off more than half of the UK..It is beyond me why the Tory Party Members think it is okay to shove Boris up in front thinking the half of the United Kingdom population will forget what Boris has done in the past….Government /Parliament is totally corrupt if you do not think that where have you been the last 3 and half years ..We need a clean out of the House of Lords (the Gravy Train) and clean out of all political parties….If we did not have a Corrupt Government/Parliament we would have left the EU via Democracy of 17.4 million voters in 2016… The Tory Party screwed the Waspie/ Back to 60 women Iain Duncan Smith (Tory Party) said ignore them here is the link to that story https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/state-pension-age-women-ignored-tory-minister-ros-altmann-iain-duncan-smith-a8567121.html like i have said Boris and the Tory Party are corrupt this new corruption of offering bribes to get Brexit party candidates to step down does not surprise me whether it is true or not ..Just ask the 3.8 million women over 60 ..I hope the women over 60 remember the Tory Party at the Election and vote for another party…That is a lot of power the Back to 60 women have if used right….I voted for the Brexit Party who the Women vote for is up to them but just think what the Tory Party have done for them ..Nothing….And screwed the 3.8 million out of their pensions….Not forgetting all these million pound Manifestos which are like Bog / Toilet Paper you could wipe your bum with as they can do what they like once they are in power as per previous Governments have done remember the Tory Party and their promise to build 200,000 starter homes and never built one not one. here is the link to that story https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-7650477/Ministers-failed-deliver-promised-new-starter-homes-says-watchdog.html …Best of luck to all women in their battle to get justice my wife has been ripped off like the other 3.8 million after getting a letter to say she would retire at age 60…..Remember who to vote for and what the Tory Party have done.
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What a surprise! !! This goes on between the overprivilged, detached from the real world narcissists who dictate to decent, hard-working, exhausted people such as 50s women. Did they use the NI contributions in their shenanigans ?
What a state our beautiful country is in- due to the “toffs” who are in politics for personal gain.
How I admire that Waspi woman who is standing in the election. Someone who has lived an “ordinary” life and is connected to the masses in so many ways- ways those greedy, selfish, blinkered idiots who are at the helm. I despair, I really do.
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“The problem we have in this country we have a Tory Government /Parliament who have broken Democracy over the past 9 years “They have no Shame” not one bit of remorse and they have not stopped being devious”.. The underlying cause is the Elite never have believed in Democracy, the only thing democracy or our pseudo democracy does is legitimises the rule of the Elite. For without this pseudo democracy the people (peasants) may have risen up against their Overlords (the Elite) and the UK would have followed the Empires of Central and Eastern Europe in 1917-19.
The underlying problem is the Elite have difficulty coping with the changing world. The Elite have needed new allies, they have linked themselves to foreign individuals , nothing new i.e. Murdoch, but at least one could see what he wanted, but this now is a different game they are playing as many of these individuals are linked to foreign governments.
You see regardless of the security of this country, for the Tory Elite power is everything and that’s it. Nothing more and nothing less and protection of the funds of their backers from the EU tax directive is more important than the employment prospects of the serfs.
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This does not surprise me at all.I hope there is an investigation and the perpetrators fall from grace. Sincerely. Jake Thomas.
On Sat, 16 Nov 2019, 19:03 Westminster Confidential, wrote:
> davidhencke posted: ” Lord Falconer: pic credit: parliament.uk When > someone as distinguished as Lord Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, writes > to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Met Police chief, and the > Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, people should take si” >
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