This is your chance to make MPs live with the consequences of laws they pass. All you have to do is snap a photo of an MP when they are doing TV or radio interviews on College Green opposite Parliament and send it in to gotcha@shopanmp.com. Or if you spot an MP being interviewed on the news let us know what channel, what time it was on and what they were talking about. We will then try and get them investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Here is why and how....
In August 2005 it became illegal to demonstrate in and around Parliament Square without prior police permission under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). So far Maya Evans has been prosecuted and found guilty of an offence under this law for reading out the names of the British an Iraqi war dead by the Cenotaph in Whitehall. People have been threatened with arrest for wearing T shirts with political slogans on them and for having cakes with the word PEACE iced upon it on display in Parliament Square. Mark Thomas had to get permission to wear a red nose on Red Nose Day or run the risk of arrest. He even had to get permission to stand by himself with a banner saying "Support the Poppy Appeal'. The law is stupid.
According to SOCPA one person can constitute a demonstration, other than that there is little definition in law as to what a demonstration is. But if a person breaks the law by reading the names of the war dead and the Oxford English Dictionary lists a definition of a demonstration as : an expression of opinion, then surely each time an MP gives a TV or radio interview about politics or politicians on College Green tthen they are demonstrating- and if they are demonstrating without permission that is illegal.
Mark Thomas with lawyers Leigh Day and Co (advised by Tim Owen QC of Matrix Chambers and Tom de la Mare of Blackstones Chambers) delivered a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Wednesday 12 December 07 calling for an urgent investigation into allegations that MPs had broken the law- including the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Any new evidence of MPs giving interviews on College Green will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Here is how you can help. If you live, work or are visiting London and walk past College Green (opposite the House of Lords entrance) and you see an MP giving an interview then:
(1) Photo them with your phone (make sure we can identify them)
(2) Send it in to us with details of time and date
(3) If you hear any of the interview then send us the details.
If you spot an MP being interviewed in the SOCPA zone on TV then let us know:
(1) The channel it was on
(2) The time you saw it
(3) What they were talking about
Send it in to us at gotcha@shopanmp.com.
We will follow up the interview and shop them to the D.P.P.
All this legal help doesn't come cheap so if you can spare some dosh please buy a badge or make a donation by clicking on the links below. You will pay via Paypal.
Lets get them in the dock! Happy Snapping!
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