Lindi St Clair
Lindi St Clair | |
---|---|
Born |
Marian June Akin 11 August 1952 London, England |
Occupation | Author and Political campaigner (Retired) |
Lindi St Clair (born Marian June Akin on 11 August 1953) is an author, leader of the Corrective Party,[1] and campaigner for prostitutes' rights.[2]
Formerly Britain's most famous 20th Century prostitute[3] but now retired and confirmed as a Christian, St Clair achieved recognition when she accused the Inland Revenue in the High Court of England of being "Her Majesty's pimps",[4] and living off immoral earnings, after its classification of prostitution as a trade in a high profile court case.
St Clair stood for election to Parliament 11 times.[5]
Biography
For many years, from the mid seventies until her bankruptcy in 1992 (after the Inland Revenue pursued her for tax evasion),[6][7] St Clair offered sexual services from her own large four-storey house at Eardley Crescent, in Earls Court, London. A very successful professional dominatrix and madam, she once owned a yellow Rolls Royce and had her own yacht [8] which she kept at Bray in Berkshire. In 1991, it emerged St Clair was renting Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont's basement flat in Notting Hill.[9][10] At one time, she claimed that 252 Members of Parliament had been her clients.[11] She has appeared on television and radio on many occasions, including The Ruby Wax Show and The James Whale Show.
Despite being taxed on her earnings, St Clair found when she attempted to register the companies, 'Prostitutes Ltd', 'Hookers Ltd', and 'Lindi St Clair (French Lessons) Ltd' that they were all rejected by the Registrar of Companies, and then 'Lindi St Clair (Personal Services) Ltd' by the Attorney General.[12]
St Clair spelt her surname "St Claire" between 1974 and 1985 and has also used the names Miss Whiplash, Carla Davis and Lily Lavender.[13]
Corrective party
St Clair attempted to become elected to the House of Commons,[11] in eleven by-elections, on one occasion threatening to expose the depraved lives of hundreds of MPs.[18] The Corrective Party shared its election agent with the Monster Raving Loony Party.
In June 1991, she was involved in a controversy when Norman Lamont, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was investigated for using taxpayers' money to handle the fall-out from press stories concerning Miss Whiplash, who was using a flat he owned (the Treasury contributed £4,700 of the £23,000 bill which had been formally approved by the Head of the Civil Service and the Prime Minister). [19]
Inland Revenue case
She accused the Inland Revenue of trying to live off immoral earnings when they asked her to pay £112,779.92 in back income tax, because they classed prostitution as a trade. Pursued by tax inspector S J Pinkney, her accountant claimed that as a result of the case she made two failed suicide bids.[20] She lost the case claiming, "The tax man is a pimp and the government is a pimp as well".[21]
Religious conversion
On 27 February 2009 it was reported that St Clair had been rescued from her car and flown to hospital after the vehicle left a remote Herefordshire road near Risbury and landed upside down in a stream, trapping her for up to 24 hours.[22] This experience led her to embrace Christianity.[23] On November 15, 2009, having legally reverted to her birth name, she was confirmed by the Bishop of Hereford at Stoke Lacy church in Herefordshire.
Bibliography
- It's Only a Game, Lindi St. Clair, Pamela Winfield, Piatkus, 1992. ISBN 0-7499-1171-9
- Miss Whiplash: my sensational life story, Lindi St. Clair, Pamela Winfield, Pan Books, 1993 ISBN 0-330-33080-2.
References
- ↑ The Role of the Deposit in British Parliamentary Elections, Social Sciences Parliamentary Affairs Matthew Cole Volume45, Issue1 Pp. 77-91
- ↑ Three Stories of Prostitution in the West: Prostitutes' Groups, Law and Feminist Truth; Fechner, Holly B. Journal of Gender & Law. 26 (1994)
- ↑ God's Adventurer: The Story of Stuart Windsor and the Persecuted Church By Stuart Windsor Monarch, 2011 - Biography & Autobiography
- ↑ 'Lindi St Clair strikes back against taxman: Miss Whiplash defiant over bankruptcy'. The Independent, 27 May 1993
- ↑ Life After Debt by Peter Phillips, Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2010
- ↑ See case of Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Aken [1990] (1 WLR 1374)
- ↑ Taxation, Volume 126 Ronald Staples. Taxation Pub. Co., 1991
- ↑ "Daily Mail, 27 February 2009.". London. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ↑ "Daily Mirror, 28 February 2009.". Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ↑ Great parliamentary scandals: five centuries of calumny, smear and innuendo by Matthew Parris, Kevin MacGuire. Robson, 2004
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Boggan, Steve (21 January 1993). "The Independent, 21 January 1993.". London. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ↑ Briefcase on Company Law by Michael Ottley
- ↑ "BBC News, 27 February 2009.". 27 February 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ↑ The Role of the Deposit in British Parliamentary Elections by M Cole - Parliamentary Affairs. Hansard Soc., 1992.
- ↑ Corrective party Manifesto
- ↑ Rethinking prostitution: purchasing sex in the 1990s By Graham Scambler, Annette Scambler, Routledge, 1997
- ↑ Speaking of sex: the limits of language by Antony Grey, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1993
- ↑ Boggan, Steve (25 February 1993). The Independent (London) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/miss-whiplash-faxes-byelection-promise-1475061.html
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missing title (help). - ↑ 1992/93 HC 383 (Select Committee on Members Interests)
- ↑ Boggan, Steve (20 January 1993). "The Independent, 20 January 1993.". London. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ↑ Weekly World News July 17, 1990
- ↑ Miss Whiplash in river car ordeal. BBC News Online. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
- ↑ "Crash 'led Miss Whiplash to God'". BBC News. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-21.