You will know that there is a growing story about possible widespread breaches of the law, amounting to criminal offences, by Conservatives at the 2015 General Election.

The people of this country suffer a disempowering electoral system, a press controlled by a handful of billionaires mostly living abroad, and a system whereby one or two parties can massively outspend all other election participants.  They can use power to reward their donors, making government a glorified client relations system.

Until the day when we can put right those failings in our democracy, the least the people thought we were entitled to expect was obedience to the law by those seeking to hole power.  If the law has been broken we will act to expose it and use the law to achieve a remedy.

Many individual Liberal Democrats across the country want to look into election expense fraud and do something about it.

For most, this is new ground.  It is not something we have done before.  People are newly discovering what to look for and where to find it.  Requests are being made to Returning Officers and books borrowed from local law libraries.  Letters to the police have been drafted and sent.

We will do best to co-ordinate this work.  We should avoid re-inventing wheels and learning the same lessons from scratch.  In order to share information, strategies and plans for action, I am calling a meeting for all interested Liberal Democrats.

The meeting will be attended by:

Mark Pack, an expert in electoral law who has written extensively about this issue.

Myself and Geoff Payne, experienced fraud lawyers, will talk about issues including the Fraud Act, procedures for police investigations, CPS decisions and possible private prosecutions.

A further person whom I cannot name in this article, who has been involved in this issue from a journalistic position.

Any you, if would like to come.

This is not a meeting for a panel of experts to instruct an audience.  It will be more like a roundtable.  Everyone else is welcome who is doing something about this or is seriously interested in doing so.  You may be a candidate or agent, local party officer, an activist.  They key thing is you are a Liberal Democrat who wants to defend our democracy in what may be it’s hour of need.

The meeting will take place at a location in central London at 6.30 on Tuesday 28 June.

It is not feasible to hold the meeting earlier while we have to fight of our lives to win the referendum on 23 June.  There are some 1 year deadlines in relation to election offences.  There will be a further article on this website in the next few days about what you should do before 28 June.  But there is still much to be done after 28 June.  There is no limitation on when Fraud Act charges can be brought.

If you wish to attend this meeting please contact me here.  Please state your name, membership number, local party, party office/role if any and what your interest in this matter is.

I do not yet know if part of the Conservative Party is in fact an Organised Crime Group.  I do not yet know if we can bring down the government or even a single bent MP.  But I anticipate that finding out will be an interesting adventure.

* Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup.