Conservative MP charged over alleged 2015 election fraud

A Tory MP has been charged by the Crown Prosecution Service over alleged election fraud in 2015.

Former UKIP Deputy Leader Craig Mackinlay left the party to join the Conservatives in 2005. In 2015 he was elected as Member of Parliament for South Thanet, defeating then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Nick Vamos, CPS Head of Special Crime, announced in a statement that “there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to authorise charges against three people." Agent Nathan Gray, 28, and party activist Marion Little, 62, along with Craig Mackinlay, 50, have been charged with offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The charges relate to claims that incorrect expenses were filed for Conservative battle bus tours, though the CPS has dropped much of the investigation. Mackinlay, Gray and Little are all due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on July 4.