NewsPolitics Exclusive: The former Labour MP is publishing a memoir which proclaims her innocence

Monday, 10th February 2020, 7:59 pm

Updated Monday, 10th February 2020, 7:59 pm

The former MP Fiona Onasanya has compared herself to Moses and Jesus in her year-long quest to clear her name (Photo: Chris Radburn/PA Wire)

Disgraced former MP Fiona Onasanya is attempting to rebrand herself as a motivational speaker with a new autobiography.

A year after being jailed for perverting the course of justice, the ex-Labour MP has published a memoir in which she proclaims her innocence and defends her actions.

Ms Onasanya, 36, was convicted after a court found she had lied about who was driving her car when it was caught speeding. She has always denied any wrongdoing, but lost an appeal against her conviction and three-month jail sentence.

This month she is publishing an autobiography, Snakes & Adders: A Set Up for the Step Up. Ms Onasanya has called the book "the story of my journey into politics", adding: "I speak very candidly about life both behind and beyond the door as a sitting MP."

Fiona Onasanya pictured with Jeremy Corbyn (Photo: Getty)

The former MP intends to use the book as a springboard to a career as a motivational speaker, according to the marketing blurb she has drawn up for the self-published memoir.

It says: "Fiona Onasanya is a law graduate, former solicitor and the former Member of Parliament for Peterborough North. Having experienced first hand that words can either hinder or help progress, she is a strong believer that delay is not denial. This is mirrored in her motivational speaking and here she takes the reader on a journey, committing to never quit."

Some voters responded with anger to Ms Onasanya's plans to profit from her experiences. One said on Twitter: "You've got a cheek. You lie, cheat, milk a salary and expenses from us taxpayers then want to sell us a book about your shady life."

Ms Onasanya was elected as the MP for Peterborough in 2017, taking the seat from the Conservatives. Just weeks later she was caught speeding, but told the authorities that someone else was driving her car at the time in an attempt to avoid getting points on her licence.

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After she was jailed in January last year, a quarter of her constituents signed a petition calling for her removal from office - exceeding the 10 per cent threshold required to trigger a by-election. In that vote the seat was held by Labour, but it was retaken by Conservative Paul Bristow at the general election in December.

Ms Onasanya's attempt to lodge an appeal failed as a judge criticised her for turning up at the hearing without a lawyer or any notes on her case. She was subsequently struck off as a solicitor by the professional regulator.

The former MP has compared herself to Moses and Jesus in her year-long quest to clear her name. She said: "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."

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Disgraced ex-MP Fiona Onasanya reinvents herself as a motivational speaker after serving time in prison for speeding lie - inews