Scottish Daily Mail

At last, potty-mouthed Labour MP is suspended from the party

- By Claire Ellicott Political Correspond­ent

LABOUR finally bowed to pressure and suspended Jared O’Mara yesterday over a series of sexist, racist and homophobic remarks.

The new MP has faced outrage over historical posts online, which have led to calls for the whip to be withdrawn.

Initially, his party rallied behind Mr O’Mara, saying that he was a reformed character. But pressure built as further lewd posts emerged yesterday. The MP wrote online about ‘sexy little s **** ’ and made crude comments about actress Angelina Jolie.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suspended Mr O’Mara following allegation­s he had called a woman an ‘ugly b **** ’ seven months ago. The party is investigat­ing his remarks.

Yesterday, Theresa May went on the offensive, saying that women deserved to be respected. Tory MP Mims Davies, chairman of the all-party parliament­ary group for women in Parliament, said: ‘Mr Corbyn has for too long turned a blind eye to this kind of behaviour in the Labour Party. Unless you call it out, you’re part of the problem.’

Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said the party had not acted sooner because it had not been aware of the comments which ‘were written and said around 13, 14 years ago’. However, many of the allegation­s emerged when he won his Sheffield Hallam seat in June.

A Labour party spokesman said: ‘He has had the whip suspended while the investigat­ion is carried out.’ The MP’s spokesman said he would not make any further comment while he was being investigat­ed.

 ??  ?? Investigat­ion: Jared O’Mara
Investigat­ion: Jared O’Mara

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom