On 1 November, Open Democracy reported that the Met Police have referred the Vote Leave campaign to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for “early investigative advice”.
A source from the Home Office has said:
This EIA (early investigative advice) is effectively the Met asking the CPS what it needs to bring charges. It would not be doing this if it was not planning to deliver a full file of evidence on Vote Leave. It will of course be the CPS’s decision on whether charges are brought.
Regardless of the outcome, the timing of these developments is less than ideal for the Conservatives. Since Boris Johnson and his advisor Dominic Cummings played a key role in the Vote Leave campaign:
https://twitter.com/shahmiruk/status/1190320220138811403?s=20
Journalist and campaigner Adam Ramsay has explained the timeline of events leading up to this latest development:
For us, this story began more than two years ago, when we got a tranche of Electoral Commission internal emails which revealed they had thought the Vote Leave/Darren Grimes relationship probably broke the rules. But they'd decided not to investigate: https://t.co/rPD8WouHA0
— Adam Ramsay (@AdamRamsay) November 1, 2019
People are questioning why the party isn’t suspending Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, and Priti Patel among others until they have been cleared of all allegations:
This is so true. If you or I were under criminal investigation, we’d be suspended.
But Boris Johnson? The former journalist has the media in such a stranglehold, it’s hardly even REPORTED. https://t.co/BVZpMH3oar— Dr Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) November 2, 2019
Exactly so. Indeed any one involved in Cambridge Analytica scandal and Vote Leave fraud should be suspended and disallowed from this election campaign e.g Gove Cummings and Johnson for a start. https://t.co/9ROBvbXqmV
— pamela.sammons (@sammons_pamela) November 2, 2019
BBC bias
In the wake of these revelations, people have noticed that mainstream media outlets are surprisingly silent:
*PM FACES CPS INVESTIGATION*. WHERE IS THE MASS MEDIA COVERAGE?
Nothing from the BBC, @Telegraph, @guardian, @thetimes.Files were passed to CPS on 17 OCTOBER- WHY WAS IT NOT REVEALED UNTIL AFTER WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BREXIT DAY?
https://t.co/dkQgtQ9ppn— Dr Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) November 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/JobenMontana/status/1190580056415977472?s=20
Many have criticised the BBC’s role in particular. Especially since Fiona Bruce told an audience member who raised the issue on Question Time that the Vote Leave campaign was cleared of charges:
On the most serious electoral fraud in modern times, the BBC – having suppressed coverage in the first place – continues to deceive the public.
Vote Leave was found GUILTY of overspending
Met Police are STILL investigatingHow can you get something so important so wrong? https://t.co/fOqw2FIlQW
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) November 1, 2019
Why did Fiona Bruce slap down the woman who said UK will struggle to have a free+fair election as Vote Leave broke electoral law and Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings is in contempt of parliament? Both claims are 100% true. Bruce owes her an apology #bbcqt https://t.co/FxMh5QrPoo
— Ian Fraser (@Ian_Fraser) October 31, 2019
Moreover, campaigners have accused the BBC of actively covering up reporting on the issue to begin with:
https://twitter.com/shahmiruk/status/1190293159361892353?s=20
Get Boris Johnson out
It would appear that this referral to CPS is just the latest in a long line of possible infractions by PM Boris Johnson. Only the day before on 31 October, Johnson’s refusal to reveal Russian interference in the 2016 referendum was in the news:
Boris Johnson was the face of Vote Leave, which broke electoral law.
There are no excuses for sitting on this report on the threat of Russian electoral interference.
It must be published before Parliament dissolves for the election to be free and fair.https://t.co/JzwcsrhO4T
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/EmmaKennedy/status/1190348738222600193?s=20
Johnson seems to have built a reputation for lying and misleading the public, which hasn’t gone unnoticed:
The extraordinary Election Lies of Boris Johnson 😱
• He lied to become Mayor
• He lied to become an MP
• He lied about EU for Vote Leave
• He lied to become Tory leader
• He is lying Now!! pic.twitter.com/tvANSq6AiM— ARTIST TAXI DRIVER (@chunkymark) November 2, 2019
Johnson increasingly appears to have the backing of the BBC and other mainstream media outlets. But let’s just hope the public sees past Johnson’s lies and rejects the possibility of electing him on 12 December.
Featured image via YouTube – The Sun/ Wikimedia – EU2017EE Estonian Presidency
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