I was arrested for slapping ex-lover, admits Lib Dem MP tipped to be leader
And guess what ... she’s preached about domestic violence!
‘We have forgiven each other’
A FRONTRUNNER to replace Vince Cable as Liberal Democrat leader was once arrested for slapping her boyfriend.
Layla Moran, who has campaigned against domestic violence, admitted she was charged and sent to court over a fracas in a hotel during a Lib Dem conference.
After the case was quietly dropped without the incident becoming public knowledge, Miss Moran, 36, began to climb the party ranks.
In a speech in the Commons last summer, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said she was furious about Parliament’s ‘failure’ to help victims of bullying at Westminster. ‘I have not come to this place just to do what makes me look good,’ she said. ‘I have come to this place to do what is absolutely right.’
She added every MP ‘should take personal responsibility by undertaking training, whether compulsory or not, in harassment and bullying’.
Yet on Saturday she slipped out on social media an admission about her arrest in 2013 for assaulting Richard Davis, head of analytics at Lloyds Bank. Police were called to Miss Moran’s hotel in Glasgow during the party’s autumn conference, where she was due to be introduced as one of the party’s rising stars.
This followed an altercation with Dr Davis, who later stood unsuccessfully for the Lib Dems in Battersea in 2017.
Miss Moran was detained in police custody and charged but the case was dropped on the grounds there was no case to answer.
Describing the incident on Twitter, Miss Moran said they had a row, initially over a lost computer cable.
‘The relationship had come under enormous strain in preceding months and regrettably, it escalated and in the heat of the moment I slapped him because I felt threatened.
‘It wasn’t our finest hour and we were, both at the time and continue to be, grateful that the police mediated, and calmed things down.’
Some Lib Dems have praised Miss Moran for her ‘bravery and honesty’ for disclosing details of the assault.
But others have called on her to step down on the basis that all domestic violence should be condemned, regardless of the circumstances and the gender of the perpetrator.
Lib Dem blogger Neil Monnerry said: ‘All the responses calling her brave are to be frank, disgusting. It isn’t brave to admit to being a domestic abuser if the story is going to come out anyway. In her statement, there is one little word missing – “sorry”.’ One senior Lib Dem said the party would have behaved differently if the case had involved a man striking a woman or another man. ‘We can’t be seen to have double standards,’ said the source. ‘Violent behaviour, which warrants a police presence, is unacceptable whether it’s by a man or a woman. We have to be consistent.’
Miss Moran raised the issue of domestic violence and abuse in the Commons in June last year.
She also posted a picture of herself visiting a domestic abuse service in her constituency in 2015, describing the service as ‘vital’.
A former physics and maths teacher who is fluent in French and several other languages, she overturned a 9,500 Tory majority at the 2017 general election.
She is the country’s first British-Palestinian MP – her mother is a Christian Arab from Jerusalem and her father is an EU diplomat.
After attending the leading girls’ school Roedean she studied physics at Imperial College, London, before teaching at the International School of Brussels. She has been open about her weight struggles and was a size 18 when she was 15.
At her heaviest, the 5ft 6in MP tipped the scales at 19 stone. She had a four-hour operation in Belgium to have her stomach stapled, and within 18 months she’d lost half her body weight.
Miss Moran, who is her party’s education spokesman, may have to battle against former minister Jo Swinson in the race to succeed Sir Vince when he stands down in May.
Her supporters, who are desperate for the Lib Dems to beat Labour to have their first woman leader, hope the controversy over the assault will swiftly die down.
Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder said: ‘Thanks for stopping these ugly rumours. Clearly this wasn’t the secretive, brutal nature of domestic violence.’
Miss Moran said she was charged because the law governing domestic disputes in Scotland dictates that all such cases should be handled by the courts, regardless of the circumstances. Referring to the breakdown of her relationship, she added: ‘Breakups are rarely a moment you want to remember. We have both forgiven each other.’
But one rival Lib Dem source said: ‘Her statement comes across as victim-blaming as she says the relationship was under stress and she felt threatened. It’s hardly an excuse to hit someone.’