The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Court hears MP overspent in bid to beat Nigel Farage Trial: Election expenses case told trio aimed to end ex-Ukip leader’ s career
A Tory MP overspent on his 2015 general election campaign to beat then Ukip leader Nigel Farage in a bid to finally end his Parliamentary ambitions, a court has heard.
South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay, 52, along with his election agent Nathan Gray, 29, and party activist Marion Little, 63, are alleged to have been complicit in submitting false expenditure declarations after his victory on May 7.
“This was not going to be any ordinary election campaign”
Southwark Crown Court heard the Conservatives put extra resources into the campaign because prior to the EU referendum Ukip’s support was on the rise.
“Nigel Farage indicated he would step down as Ukip leader if he failed to win South Thanet so it was clear this was not going to be any ordinary election campaign,” prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC told jurors.
“Spending limits apply equally to every prospective Parliamentary candidate of every political hue across the UK,” the prosecutor added.
He said expenditure is “tightly regulated” over two stages – a short and a long campaign – and it is the job of a Parliamentary candidate and their election agent to ensure limits are observed”.
Declarable expenses include the costs of electing the candidate, such as printing leaflets, putting up posters and staffing, Mr Jafferjee said.
In South Thanet the limit was just over £37,000, and for the short campaign it was just over £15,000.
Declarations made by Mackinlay and Gray came in below the limit, at £32,661 and £14,833 respectively.
But Mr Jafferjee said: “It “scrupulously is the prosecution case that neither of these declarations as to expenditure – the long return figure of just over £32,000 and the short return figure of just under £15,000 – were true, by some considerable margin.”
He told jurors a signature purporting to be Nathan Gray’s in relation to the long return was “forged”.
The court heard Little, along with a press officer, was sent from Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to stay in the Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate, arriving on March 23 2015.
The prosecutor told jurors they worked to get Mackinlay elected “from the moment they arrived.
“This was not just what is known as a marginal seat, but it was a contest which could see off Nigel Farage’s Parliamentary ambitions forever,” he said.
The court heard Little told police she was not working for Mackinlay but on national campaign work.
She now claims she went to Kent to prevent the election of Ukip and the benefit to Mackinlay was “collateral” to that, jurors were told.
But Mr Jafferjee said she was there for “one purpose”.
The prosecutor said Mackinlay will blame his “lack of experience and unawareness” of what Little and others were doing.
Mr Jafferjee said: “It is the prosecution case each of these defendants involved themselves in a deliberate under-declaration and non-declaration of election expenses.”
Mackinlay, from Ramsgate, Kent, denies two charges of making a false election expenses declaration.
Gray, of Hawkhurst, Kent, denies one charge of making a false election expenses declaration and a further charge of using a false instrument.
Little, of Ware in Hertfordshire, denies three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence. They are all on unconditional bail.
The trial continues.