A Tory MP’s election to Parliament could have been declared void after he overspent on his campaign to beat Nigel Farage, a court has heard.

Craig Mackinlay, 52, along with his election agent Nathan Gray, 29, and party activist Marion Little, 63, are accused of deliberately submitting “woefully inaccurate” expenditure returns.

Their trial at Southwark Crown Court has heard that during the 2015 general election campaign, the Conservative Party put in extra resources to win the seat in South Thanet on May 7 in a “two-horse race” with then-Ukip leader Mr Farage.

Nathan Gray
Nathan Gray (Victoria Jones/PA)

Declared spending on the campaign came in under the strict £52,000 limit set for the Kent constituency, but prosecutors allege up to £66,600 was not declared.

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC told jurors on Wednesday: “This was a very important seat for the Conservative Party to win and Mr Mackinlay had to be elected.

“In seeking to ensure the success of the Conservative Party’s candidate and the defeat of Nigel Farage, we submit that proper regard to the limits of expenditure imposed by law was simply abandoned.

“Each of these three defendants were complicit in the means deployed to achieve that end.

“Had the true position been declared, Craig Mackinlay’s election would have been at the risk of being declared void.”

Marion Jones
Marion Little (Victoria Jones/PA)

Mackinlay, an accountant by profession, was elected to Parliament for the first time after he won the seat with a majority of around 2,800 in an electorate of 70,000.

In a police interview, the MP, who had been in politics for more than 20 years, attempted to “distance himself from Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) staff and volunteers drafted in to help with his campaign”, the court heard.

But the prosecutor said he was “fully aware” of their assistance to him.

The court heard Mackinlay, Gray and Little were warned about the risk of overspending as early as February 2015.

Experienced Tory activist Anthony Salter told jurors he was the voluntary chairman of the local Conservative campaign team until the end of March 2015, when he bowed out after Little had “taken over”.

In an email ahead of a meeting with her on February 17 he told her: “We have raised 50K for Craig’s campaign … Almost all of this money is committed already … For once money is the least of our worries, although Farage will undoubtedly outspend us and Labour will have more boots on the ground.”

After the meeting, in an email sent on February 18, addressed to Little, Mackinlay, Gray and others, Mr Salter raised his concerns over breaching strict spending limits during the “long” and “short” periods of the campaign.

“We’re getting perilously close to hitting our legal limits, both for the long and short campaign,” he wrote.

“I take on board your concerns that we face the real prospect of a legal challenge from Farage if you make the smallest slip up.”

He told jurors he was keen to ensure the campaign kept within the legal expenditure limits.

“The spending limits are pretty tight and I was conscious, almost to the point of obsession, that we didn’t go above these legal limits – of not breaking the law,” he said.

Mr Salter said he also had reservations over Gray’s employment by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) as the election agent.

“I didn’t consider he had the appropriate training, skills and expertise,” he said.

“I wanted somebody with the proper training and expertise to oversee (the expenditure returns) and make sure we didn’t make stupid mistakes.”

Trevor Burke QC, defending Gray, suggested his client was regarded as an “idiot” in the campaign office by colleagues who talked about him behind his back.

“For some in the office there was a general perception he couldn’t put his trousers on in the morning without the help of someone else,” he said to the witness.

Mr Salter replied: “It was never expressed to me while I was down there, it was expressed to me subsequently.”

He admitted he was not sure how Gray had come to take on the responsibility of acting as Mackinlay’s election agent, having been initially employed as campaign manager, and agreed that the role was “totally beyond him”.

“I do think it is unfair he’s been pilloried for not being up to the job he’s got no qualifications for,” he added.

Mackinlay, from Ramsgate, Kent, denies two charges of making a false election expenses declaration under the Representation of the People Act 1983; Gray, of Hawkhurst, Kent, denies one charge of making a false election expenses declaration and a further charge of using a false instrument under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981; Little, of Ware, Hertfordshire denies three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007.

They are all on unconditional bail and the trial continues.