22 August 2025
Last week, I found myself in the unusual position of agreeing with the former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.
This doesn’t happen often. But when it comes to the recent noise about so-called ‘two-tier justice’, Rees-Mogg is absolutely right to call it out for what it is: utter rubbish.
A vocal minority – including several Reform and some Conservative politicians who should know better – have been loudly claiming that our police and courts are politically biased. They’ve pointed to two recent cases as ‘proof’: Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, and Ricky Jones, a suspended Labour councillor.
But they’d get laughed out of any court. Let’s look at the facts.
Both Connolly and Jones were charged by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Connolly pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred. If you plead guilty, there’s no need for a trial – you’ve already admitted guilt. She was sentenced to serve a sentence in prison by a judge.
Jones pleaded not guilty to encouraging violent disorder. That meant a trial. Twelve randomly selected members of the public served as the jury. After hearing the evidence, they unanimously found him not guilty. No judge sentenced him because he was acquitted.
In other words: a guilty person went to prison, someone found not guilty didn’t.
That’s not bias – that’s justice.
Jury trials are one of Britain’s proudest democratic traditions. So when plastic patriots like Farage start questioning juries, they’re not defending British values – they’re attacking them.
Why? Because it suits their political agenda. They know they can’t win on policy, so they have to try and win on anger and outrage.
They claim people are being jailed for ‘hurty words’ online. This is false: nobody has been imprisoned for hurting someone’s feelings. Not one single person. People have been imprisoned for inciting or committing violence – and rightly so.
A police officer I’ve worked closely with was hospitalised during the Manvers riots last year. A tweet didn’t do that – a brick did.
Many other officers across the country were injured too. These are public servants who put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe. They deserve our respect – not ridicule from keyboard warriors and populist politicians.
Frankly, the police face criticism from both the left and the right. That alone should tell us something. If the extremes on both sides believe the police are against them, that’s a sign the police are doing their job – enforcing the law impartially, without fear or favour.
The same goes for judges and juries. They don’t answer the government of the day – whoever is in charge. They only answer to the law. That’s something we should all be proud of.
So my message to Farage and everybody else making false claims of ‘two-tier justice’ is simple. Stop weaponising verdicts you don’t like. Stop undermining the institutions and people who deliver justice. And start defending the principles that make it work.