Webbe faces jail after conviction for harassment
LEICESTER EAST BYPOLL LIKELY AS MP ASKED TO RESIGN
CLAUDIA WEBBE, the Leicester East MP, has been told she faces a custodial sentence after being convicted last week of harassing her partner’s female friend.
Webbe was accused of threatening to attack Michelle Merritt with acid and sending explicit photographs to her family. The Labour MP was thought to be jealous of Merritt’s friendship with Lester Thomas, with whom she has a relationship.
The politician is believed to have made a series of calls to Merritt between September 2018 and April 2020, some of which were recorded.
Webbe, 56, allegedly called Merritt “slag” and threatened her with acid.
However, she denied she had harassed Merritt and claimed she merely called her as a matter of “courtesy”, telling her to adhere to Covid norms.
Webbe said she was unhappy that Merritt, 59, had been breaching lockdown rules with Thomas.
“She was committing a crime. I was pointing this out,” she told Westminster magistrates’ court.
However, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring refused to believe her explanation, saying it was “frankly incredible”.
Goldspring said he was considering a custodial sentence and sought a pre-sentencing report, Sky News reported.
“I do not find the defendant to be cogent, compelling and truthful in all aspects of her evidence, he said. “Some of the things she said I believe were made up on the spur of the moment.”
Goldspring added: “In short, I find Ms Webbe to be vague, incoherent and at times illogical… and ultimately I find her to be untruthful.”
He warned that “threatening to throw acid at somebody and to send intimate photographs to family members crosses the custody threshold.”
Amid calls for her resignation as MP after her conviction, Webbe insisted she was innocent and would continue to represent her constituents in parliament.
However, she could be removed from her position through a process called a recall petition, which was introduced following the 2015 parliamentary expenses scandal. An MP can potentially lose their seat if they are convicted of an offence in the UK and are to be sentenced, imprisoned or detained; if they are suspended by the House of Commons following sanctions from the Committee on Standards; if they are found guilty of making false or misleading parliamentary allowances claims.
Under parliamentary rules, any custodial sentence that is not overturned will lead to a recall petition.
The petition has been used on three occasions, two of which were successful.
The Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was convicted of perverting the course of justice and jailed for three months after lying over a speeding ticket. She lost her seat in Peterborough though a recall petition.
Chris Davies, the Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, was removed from the Commons after pleading guilty to false expenses claim.
Only 10 per cent of Leicester East’s 74,0000 voters would need to support the petition for Webbe to be removed.
She is the first female MP for Leicester East, which has a large Asian population.
She said she was shocked by the judgement and would appeal against it. If she is still found guilty after the appeals process, Webbe faces the possibility of losing her seat in the Commons.
Elected in 2019 to succeed long-time Labour MP Keith Vaz, she was suspended from the Labour whip last year after she was charged with harassment.
Webbe was a member of Labour’s national executive committee from 2016 until 2019.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘The Labour party strongly condemns Claudia Webbe’s actions and she should now resign.’
She will be sentenced on November 4.