Pardon for Turing to be Reconsidered
The Commons leader says he’ll take another look at the British Government’s decision to deny a pardon to Alan Turing, but it’s not likely the outcome will be different. Sir George Young offered to re-examine the case after being lobbied by Tory MP Iain Stewart who holds a seat in Milton Keynes south, which includes Bletchley Park.
The Independent reports, “Mr. Stewart called on the Government to consider ‘whether it would be appropriate to grant him a pardon for the so-called crime of which he was convicted.’
“Responding to the question in the Commons, Sir George said, ‘I understand that an application for a royal prerogative of mercy was put forward on the basis that the offence should not have existed, but sadly one cannot give a royal prerogative on those particular grounds. The argument that it should not have been an offence in the first place is not normally a ground for prerogative.’”