Ashley Mote
| Ashley Mote | |
|---|---|
| Member of the European Parliament for South East England |
|
|
In office 10 June 2004 – 4 June 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Roy Perry |
| Succeeded by | Marta Andreasen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 January 1936 London, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations |
UK Independence Party (until July 2004) |
Ashley Mote (born 25 January 1936) is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after UKIP withdrew the whip from him due to investigation into his expenses.
A vociferous critic of fraud in the European Institutions, he himself was convicted of benefit fraud in 2007 for which he served a nine-month prison sentence and was described by the trial judge as "a truly dishonest man". The scandal ignited a debate as to how an MEP could receive a prison sentence, yet keep his seat in the European Parliament; there are moves afoot to review the legislation. In 2015, Mote was jailed for a further five years for fraudulently claiming nearly £500,000 in European Parliament expenses.
Mote was born in London. He was educated at the City of London Freemen's School. Married with two children, Mote was a management consultant who ran a marketing business in Woking, Surrey, employing thirteen full-time staff, for eighteen years before it closed in 1989 as a result of the late 1980s recession.
He later became an author, publishing several titles on right-wing politics and also on cricket. His books have included Vigilance - A Defence of British Liberty (2001) about the European Union, and OverCrowded Britain: Our Immigration Crisis. His books on cricket are The Glory Days of Cricket (1997) which won The Cricket Society's "Cricket Book of the Year" award in 1997 and a new edition in 1998 of John Nyren's classic collection of articles on the Georgian game, The Cricketers of My Time (1833). Mote was also the first president of the revived Hambledon Club which raises money for colts cricket.
...
Wikipedia