Craig Mackinlay MP in court over election fraud allegations

South Thanet MP, Craig Mackinlay, is due in court today alongside his agent and a Conservative Party activist to answer charges of electoral fraud relating to the 2015 general election.

Mackinlay was found by a Channel 4 investigation to have declared a considerable amount of election expenditure as belonging to his party's national campaign when it should allegedly have been declared as local spending. Adding this expenditure to his expenses return would have put him a long way over the legal spending limit.

During the election campaign Nigel Farage and his team warned that Mackinlay was spending more money than he was allowed and we will soon find out if a judge agrees. Many other Conservative MPs were found in the Channel 4 investigation to have done the same thing but the CPS only brought a case again Mackinlay which suggests either a show trial given the importance of that election or that Mackinlay and his team were doing more than just following advice from the party.

Even if he is found to have cheated the 2015 election a judge would have no power to remove Mackinlay from his post as there has been another election unless he is sentenced to more than 3 months in prison.

Tory MPs's chief of staff charged with rape

Conservative Craig Mackinlay MP's chief of staff, Samuel Armstrong, has been charged with raping a woman in the MP's office in the Houses of Parliament.

Armstrong allegedly raped the woman in October last year and has been charged with two counts of rape and one of sexual assault by penetration.

He will face Westminster magistrates on 31st March.

Tories lose attempt to block police investigation into Craig Mackinlay's election expenses

The Conservative Party have failed in their attempt to stop Kent Police from getting a further 12 months to investigate allegations of election expense fraud in last year's election in Thanet South.

Ten police forces are investigating allegations of systematic fraud in expenses returns mainly involving the Conservatives but with a couple of Labour and Lib Dem candidates thrown in for good measure. The alleged fraud relates to declaring local campaign expenditure as national expenditure to avoid going over spending limits on paper.

Some of the expenditure alleged to be fraudulent includes claiming that hotel bills for activists bussed in for a local campaign were part of a national campaign, mailshots sent out in David Cameron's name targeting the constituency they were delivered to were national campaign material and transporting activists to support local campaigns was national spending.

The magistrate granting the extension for Thanet South has suggested that the allegations are so serious that Craig Mackinley's victory could be declared void and a by-election called. The Tories threw everything at Thanet South to stop Nigel Farage from becoming an MP and Farage himself said after the election that the Tories had "swindled" it by overspending but that he wouldn't make a complaint because he didn't want to be accused of sour grapes.

Kent Police now have an extra 12 months to investigate the allegations whilst the Tories are left with the bill for the very expensive lawyers they hired to try and stop the extension being granted.

Rochester Conservatives organise fake protest against Mark Reckless

Members of Rochester Conservatives organised a fake protest against Mark Reckless in Rochester yesterday with members falsely claiming to be ordinary residents or representatives of residents groups.

Channel 4 reporter Michael Crick became suspicious of all the people suddenly slagging Reckless off until one Conservative activist let the cat out of the bag and told him they were all Conservatives, including the person claiming to be the chairman of Rochester Residents' Association who said that Reckless is a drunk.

Nigel Farage's opponent in South Thanet, Craig Mackinlay, was also present at this failed attempt to mislead the media and presumably helped to organise it. Prospective MPs usually save the lies and deceit for after they've been elected, Mackinlay seems to be bucking that trend.