Labour MP Fiona Onasanya found guilty of perverting the course of justice over speeding case
2 min read
Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been dumped by the party after she was found guilty of lying to police to avoid a speeding charge.
The Peterborough MP and former whip perverted the course of justice by saying she was not behind the wheel of her car when it was caught speeding, a jury found.
Labour has immediately suspended the MP and called for her to resign - which would trigger a by-election in the seat where her majority is just over 600 votes.
Ms Onasanya denied she was driving when her car was caught doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Cambridgeshire in July 2017.
The solicitor was accused of colluding with her brother Festus to avoid getting three points on her licence.
She instead said her former lodger Aleks Antipow was behind the wheel and gave a fake address and telephone number for him.
But it emerged Mr Antipow had been in Russia visiting his family at the time of the offence.
Mr Onasanya already pleaded gulty to the same charge and two similar accounts. The pair will be sentenced at a later date.
His sister had been an MP for just six weeks at the time of the offence. She stood down as a Labour whip last month.
A spokesperson for the party said: “The Labour Party is deeply disappointed in Fiona Onasanya’s behaviour. It falls well below what is expected of politicians. She should now resign.
“Fiona Onasanya is being administratively suspended from the Labour Party and therefore the whip with immediate effect.”
The jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict at the Old Bailey in a retrial. The jury in her first case failed to come to a verdict.
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