Shamed MP Fiona Onasanya has been sentenced to three months in prison for lying about a speeding ticket to police.
Sentencing her, the judge said she had 'let down not just yourself but your profession and your parliament'.
She was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after her car was caught doing 41 mph in a 30 mph zone in July 2017. Onansanya plotted to avoid penalty points with the help of her brother Festus, who admitted perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to 10 months.
The Labour MP, who has frequently referenced her Christian faith in public, would have been forced to resign her seat if she had been sentenced to 12 months or longer, forcing a by-election in her marginal seat. However, any prison sentence can force a by-election if 10 per cent of voters in a constituency sign a recall petition.
Onasanya, a qualified solicitor, is appealing against her conviction, which may also see her barred from practising law.
Her counsel Christine Agnew QC said: 'This is not just a fall from grace, it is a very public fall from grace. She will inevitably be struck off as a solicitor. Her life as a politician and her life as a solicitor will come to an end.'
In a WhatsApp message to other Labour MPs after her conviction she appeared to deny her responsibility for what happened and compared herself to biblical figures who were unjustly accused, including Christ himself.
She said: 'In times like these the natural inclination of believers is to ask God why? I personally do not, because in my experience the answers are usually far above and beyond my reach. What I do know is that I am in good biblical company along with Joseph, Moses, Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were each found guilty by the courts of their day.
'While God did not save them from a guilty verdict he did save them in it and ensured that their greatest days of impact were on the other side of a guilty verdict. Of course this is equally true of Christ who was accused and convicted by the courts of his day and yet this was not his end but rather the beginning of the next chapter in his story.'
