The Times defames dissenters: Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, Carla Denyer, the Green party leader.
The Time's is the voice of another time and place, long dead! Political Observer comments.
Headline: MPs like Corbyn won’t be prosecuted for Palestine Action support
Sub-headline: The former Labour leader and fellow PA advocates such as Diane Abbott will not be punished for expressing support in the chamber due to parliamentary privilege
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/jeremy-corbyn-mps-prosecuted-palestine-action-support-3gkklwpc0
MPs will avoid prosecution if they support Palestine Action while speaking in the House of Commons even after the group is proscribed as a terror group.
Parliamentary privilege will protect them from prosecution, the House of Commons confirmed.
It means that left-wing members including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, who served as his shadow chancellor, the former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, Carla Denyer, the Green party leader, and others who spoke out against the government’s move to ban Palestine Action will not face prosecution if they incite support for the group.
They were among 26 MPs, including nine from Labour, who voted against the move to proscribe Palestine Action on Wednesday. The Labour members included Diane Abbott, the veteran left-winger.
Barring a last-minute injunction proving successful at the High Court on Friday, Palestine Action will be added to a list of terrorist groups alongside Al Qaeda, Isis and Hamas. That will make it illegal to be a member or to invite support for the organisation, punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
The Commons confirmed that this will not apply to MPs who speak in support of the group in the chamber due to parliamentary privilege, which frees MPs and peers to speak freely in parliament even if doing so otherwise breaches the law.
The High Court will hear an application from Palestine Action to suspend the proscription of the group until a full legal hearing can be heard later this summer. On Thursday it launched a new direct action group named “Yvette Cooper” in an attempt to force the home secretary to proscribe herself. Cooper has said the Home Office would look to ban any new groups set up in an attempt to circumvent the proscription of Palestine Action.
On Thursday four Palestine Action members were behind bars on remand after anti-terror police charged them over a £7 million vandalism attack on two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, and Jony Cink, 24, both of no fixed abode, along with the north London duo of Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, of Barnet, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22, of Cricklewood, appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it submitted “that these offences have a terrorist connection”. The defendants, who held hands and smiled as they entered the dock, spoke only to confirm their names. They also made peace signs, blew kisses and waved at supporters in the public gallery.
They have yet to offer a plea to conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom and conspiracy to commit criminal damage. Prosecutors said both offences occurred between June 1 and June 21, 2025.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said the charges came as part of an investigation into “an incident in which damage was caused to aircraft at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire”.
Richard Link, the prosecutor, told the court on Thursday: “This relates to a serious incidence of criminal damage at RAF Brize Norton on June 20 committed by a group called Palestine Action Group. The allegations against these four are [that] they are members of that group and they are heavily into the methodology and reasons behind why they have attacked the airbase.”
He told the court that as far as the prosecution was aware, they lived “transient lifestyles”.
District Judge Daniel Sternberg remanded all four in custody to reappear at the Old Bailey on July 18. There was applause and chants of “Free Palestine” from the packed public gallery as the defendants were led away.
CTPSE on Wednesday said a 41-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender had been released on bail until September 19. A 23-year-old man was arrested and released without charge, it added.
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Editor: On the pressing question of Free Speech in Britain:
The British First Amendment
One of the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry into the British press was that an explicit duty should be placed on the government to protect the freedom of the press.
Hugh Tomlinson QC was involved in drafting such a measure, which some would call “a British First Amendment.” The first three clauses of this are reproduced below.
But the government didn’t like the idea and, because it was part of a package which included independent regulation, neither did the press. As a result, the proposal was never implemented.
1. Protection of media freedom
(1) Public authorities must aim to:
(a) protect the freedom of the media, and (b) support the independence of the media.
(2) In particular, in exercising their functions public authorities must:
(a) have regard to the importance of the freedom and independence of the media, and
(b) recognise the right of the media to receive and impart information without interference by public authorities.
(3) It is unlawful for a public authority to interfere or attempt to interfere with the media unless the interference or attempt is undertaken:
(a) for a legitimate purpose which the public authority considers necessary in a democratic society, and
(b) having full regard to the importance of the freedom and independence of the media.
Political Observer.