Lots of speculation about whether there will be a by-election in Barnsley Central after MP Eric Illsley pleaded guilty to false accounting. He is currently suspended from Labour and will be sentenced in a month or so.
The curious twist is that if his sentence is under a year he can in theory remain an MP for the constituency. For obvious reasons Ed Miliband and his advisers are desperate to ensure this doesn’t occur.
The situation brings to mind that of another former MP who was ejected from the House of Commons twice – once (1912) for bankruptcy and then (1922) after he was imprisoned for seven years for his fraudulent “John Bull Victory Bond Club”.
Who was this terrible cad?
Step forward Horatio Bottomley, all round financier, politician, swindler and – founder of the Financial Times.
Hat-tip Robert Hutton, Bloomberg
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey