David Wolchover sets out why moves are afoot to prosecute the prime minister for misconduct in public office
On Friday 22 March Oxford University Professor of Physics Joshua Silver and I formally asked Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a summons against the prime minister alleging misconduct in public office, a crime under common law carrying a maximum of life imprisonment. The application was adjourned to April 9 for a full oral hearing before the Deputy Senior District Judge for England and Wales.
This is no stunt. Nobody is above the law, least of all high officers of state administering major government business. Although the allegation concerns the activation of Article 50 on 29 March 2017, the conclusive evidence only surfaced in January, as I recently revealed in New Law Journal (‘Did activating Article 50 constitute an indictable offence?’ 12 March 2019).
Our case essentially hinges on the statutory basis of the European Referendum 2016. As the Supreme Court affirmed in the landmark Miller decision it was no more than ‘advisory,’ the commons briefing paper on the EU Referendum Bill having explained
