Skip to content

Turing Pardon Bill Due for Second reading This Week

The Alan Turing Pardon Bill, first introduced as a Private members Bill in The House of Lords, will have its second reading in the Lords this week.
Lord Sharkey’s Bill, introduced last year as mathematicians, scientists, LGBT activists and Turing fans in general celebrated Turing’s centenary, adds to the posthumous apology given by Gordon Brown when he was PM in 2009, by pardoning him altogether. It followed an e-petition in 2012 that closed with 34.5 thousand signatures.
Lord Sharkey says:
Today, this campaign takes a step forward. I have introduced into the House of Lords a Bill which will, if it becomes law, grant a pardon to Dr Turing.
Alan Turing was a truly great Briton. He was the father of computing; his legacy is with us every time anyone uses a computer anywhere in the world.
He also helped save this country. His work on cracking the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park during World War II undoubtedly changed the course of the war and saved many thousands of lives.
But instead of being rewarded by his country, he was cruelly punished and convicted simply for being gay.
If my Bill becomes law, as I hope it will, then this will finally go some way towards acknowledging the debt we all owe to Alan Turing and grant him the free pardon he so clearly deserves.”
The Bill has the support of the three major parties.