Mr Morley and Mr Rahman (a tale of two sentences)
Not so equal before the law.
It will come as no surprise to regular Proletarian readers that only a tiny number among the vast number of MPs caught with their hands in the expenses till ever went to prison. None of the big names even got a slap on the wrist, and now the small fry who were selected as scapegoats are all being let out of jail free after serving about a quarter of their sentences.
Thus ex-Labour MP and junior minister Elliot Morley, who helped himself to £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments, served only four months of his 16-month sentence. Ex-Labour MP David Chaytor was less lucky: he served nearly six months of his 18-month sentence. For the Tories, Lord Taylor and Lord Hanningfield served a quarter of their sentences … and so it goes on, Lib, Lab and Tory alike.
Contrast this not only with the punishments meted out to participants in August’s uprisings, but what they will actually serve.
For example, 25-year-old Mohammed Rahman, sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court after pleading guilty to the burglary of some £450-worth of jewelry, got the same 16 months jail term as Elliot Morley received for helping himself to £30,000.
Proletarian readers may question not only this discrepancy between the money values of the two offences in relation to the jail terms given by the ‘impartial bench’, but perhaps may also question whether Mr Rahman will get out of prison after four months like Mr Morley did, or whether he will serve rather more of his sentence.
> Uprisings terrify the ruling class – October 2011
YOUTH UPRISING SUPPLEMENT August 2011:
> Rage against capitalism
> Revolt is an example to emulate
> Bourgeois ideologues battle for control of the working-class movement
