Labour MP O’Mara reveals he made suicide attempts

A LABOUR MP who was suspended over sexist and homophobic comments said he made three suicide attempts at the height of the furore.

Jared O’Mara had the whip withdrawn last year after a series of postings, many dating back over a number of years, came to light, but was readmitted earlier this month after receiving a formal warning.

The Sheffield Hallam MP said he was “harassed and hounded” by the press and was a “mess”. He said: “I’ll not mince my words. I made three attempts on my life. I was harassed and hounded by the press ... I was too scared to go home. And I was just a mess. I was shaking. I was crying. And that lasted for weeks.”

Mr O’Mara’s shock victory over the former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, was one of the most memorable moments of the 2017 General Election. But he had not even made his maiden speech in the Commons when comments emerged that he had made in his early 20s, including inviting the band Girls Aloud to an orgy and joking about the musician Jamie Cullum being “sodomised to death”.

Mr O’Mara said on Monday he is “ashamed of the man I was” as he apologised for his past behaviour. In an apologetic statement issued through the party, he explained how he grew up “in an era when lad culture and prejudicial language were normalised” and how he repeated slurs levelled at him “as a way of deflecting from my own low self-esteem and depression”. The party’s national executive committee disputes panel ruled the case did not meet the threshold required to be referred for expulsion but he should undergo training.