Fiona Onasanya, Peterborough’s Labour* MP who was last year found guilty of perverting the course of justice, has been sentenced this morning to three months. She has become the first woman MP ever to be jailed…

The judge said that  “If she wasn’t an MP or wasn’t in a position of responsibility, she would go inside. It’s not one law for those in a position of power, and another for those who are not.”

“By the time you met a police investigator, you knew that you were providing information that you knew to be untrue. You deliberately committed the offend of which you are convicted.  That was a disastrous decision. It is an aggravating feature that you both persisted with dishonest course… It was a serious and flagrant offence.”

Onasanya’s defence argued that as a barrister and an MP, prison time would be overly harsh, as “she will no longer be able to work in either of her chosen professions.” Guido would have thought that she should have considered this before attempting to pervert the course of justice…

Her brother Festus, who had previously been sentenced to 54 months back in 2011 for offensive robbery, and had a raft of drug offences is expected to serve prison time for ten months. His guilty plea entitled him to a reduction of 15%.

Upon her conviction last year, Onasanya compared herself to Jesus, claiming she was “in good biblical company” with Joseph, Moses, and Daniel as well, “who were each found guilty by the courts of their day.” Today she failed to rise again…

A by-election is now all but certain. The sentence leads to a Recall Petition, triggering a by-election if 10% of Peterborough constituents sign it. Onasanya won the heavily leave voting seat in 2017 with a majority of just 607. The local Tory candidate is already out campaigning…

*Former Labour MP, she votes with the Labour front bench even though she was expelled from the party.

UPDATE:  Labour have called on Onasanya to “act honourably and resign.” A spokesman said “she should do this without delay and not take another penny in salary from the public purse.” They’ve also confirmed that they will support efforts to out her through a recall petition if she refuses to budge…