Fiona Onasanya vows to stay on as MP despite conviction
2 min read
Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya has vowed to stay on and "fight back" against injustices in parliament, despite her recent conviction for perverting the course of justice.
Writing an end-of-year column in her local newspaper, the Peterborough Telegraph, Ms Onasanya said 2018 "had been an incredibly busy, and sometimes fractious year in the House of Commons".
She highlighted the issues of Brexit and the troubled rollout of the Universal Credit welfare reform - but not her own conviction.
And she said: "While it has been a successful year fighting back against these injustices, there is still much more to be done, and you can rest assured that I will continue to do so as your representative in the corridors of power."
The MP was found guilty of lying to police to avoid a speeding charge.
She was suspended by Labour following her conviction and is expected to be sentenced in January.
If she is sentenced to 12 months or longer in prison, she will automatically lose her seat in Parliament.
The former party whip has maintained her innocence and has sent messages to her colleagues comparing herself to Jesus, "Joseph, Moses, Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were each found guilty by the courts of their day".
Responding to criticism for publishing the column, the Peterborough Telegraph's editor Mark Edwards wrote: "The PT offers columns to the two sitting MPs covering Peterborough if they choose to submit one.
"While she is still the MP - and therefore the elected representative - we believe it would be wrong to deny our readers the chance to read what she has submitted.
"To censor the column would, in my view, be wrong, and in my experience our readers are quite capable of making their own minds up about the columns submitted by local politicians.
"The column will of course remain subject to our normal legal and Editor’s Code of Conduct boundaries."
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