29 Facts About Fiona Onasanya

Fiona Oluyinka Onasanya is a former British politician and solicitor.

Fiona Onasanya was elected as a Labour Party MP in the 2017 United Kingdom general election for the constituency of Peterborough and was removed from that office in 2019 following a successfully recall petition triggered by her conviction of perverting the course of justice.

Fiona Onasanya unsuccessfully sought to secure permission to appeal against the conviction.

Fiona Onasanya was removed from office on 1 May 2019 after a successful recall petition, automatically triggered in cases of a custodial sentence of a year or less, under the Recall of MPs Act 2015.

Fiona Onasanya was born in Cambridge and is of Nigerian ancestry.

Fiona Onasanya was educated at Netherhall School and studied law at the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Law.

Fiona Onasanya was elected as Labour Cambridgeshire County Councillor for King's Hedges in Cambridge in 2013 and became deputy leader of the Labour group on the council.

Fiona Onasanya was the local party's spokeswoman for children and young people and sat on the council's Joint Consultative Committee for teachers.

Fiona Onasanya was appointed as a Labour whip and as a parliamentary private secretary to Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith.

Fiona Onasanya attracted some notice when she quoted lyrics from Man's Not Hot, a viral song, during a budget debate in November 2017.

Fiona Onasanya voted remain in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and subsequently voiced support for a second vote on Brexit, either by means of a second referendum or a general election.

On 12 March 2019, Fiona Onasanya voted against the Government's Brexit withdrawal agreement, which was defeated in the second "meaningful vote".

On 27 March 2019, Fiona Onasanya was among the 21 MPs who voted against improved LGBT education in schools.

In July 2018, Fiona Onasanya was charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to two speeding incidents which occurred in 2017.

The first charge alleged that she was driving the vehicle during a speeding incident on 24 July 2017 but that, with her brother Festus Fiona Onasanya, she had claimed that someone else was driving.

Fiona Onasanya's brother was charged with three counts, two relating to the same incidents as his sister.

Fiona Onasanya appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 12 July 2018.

Fiona Onasanya said on 27 July 2018 that she "strongly refutes any suggestions that I have broken the law".

At the first trial, Fiona Onasanya said she did not know who was driving on 24 July 2017.

Fiona Onasanya said that she initially mistakenly assumed that she could not have been driving the car on 24 July 2017 due to political commitments and left a Notice of Intended Prosecution to be dealt with by whoever had been driving.

Fiona Onasanya said she now realised that she had had an appointment that would be consistent with her having been the driver but could not remember whether she had kept the appointment.

Fiona Onasanya was expelled from the party the following day.

Fiona Onasanya applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal against the conviction.

On 29 January 2019, Fiona Onasanya was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and her brother was sentenced to ten months.

Fiona Onasanya presented without legal counsel, legal binders or notes, and the court found "absolutely no basis" for challenging the conviction.

Fiona Onasanya is a member of Christians on the Left.

Fiona Onasanya is a patron of Women Worldwide Advocating Freedom and Equality and was a trustee of East Hertfordshire YMCA, which closed in June 2018.

Fiona Onasanya stated during her trial, in November 2018, that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

In June 2020, Fiona Onasanya attracted national and international attention by accusing Kellogg's of racism for using a monkey as the mascot of their Coco Pops cereal.