Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MP suspended in row over ‘sexism’

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understand­ing of dementia.

Their report focuses on evidence that Alzheimer’s disease has its roots in brain changes in middle age which gives a window for treatment which could limit damage. AMAZON is launching a service that will enable couriers to open customers’ front doors and leave deliveries inside.

Called Amazon Key, the new system combines an app, home security camera and a smart lock that couriers will be able to unlock via the app once they have scanned the package to confirm its arrival.

Users will receive a notificati­on when a driver arrives and can watch the drop-off live on their smartphone. Trials begin next month in the US. LABOUR MP Jared O’Mara has had the whip suspended while claims that he called a constituen­t an “ugly bitch” are investigat­ed, the party has said.

The move follows the announceme­nt that Labour had launched an inquiry amid mounting pressure over the Sheffield Hallam MP’s comments and behaviour.

In the Commons, Theresa May said MPs needed to show “due care and attention” in the way they referred to other people.

Asked about Mr O’Mara’s comments, she said women in public life deserved to be treated with respect.

“All of us in this House should have due care and attention to the way in which we refer to other people and should show women in public life the respect they deserve,” she said.

The announceme­nt that Labour had removed the whip pending the outcome of the inquiry came after the woman he is alleged to have abused called for him to be suspended. Sophie Evans told TV reporters: “Initially, I wanted him to apologise to me. Now it’s too late. I want him to admit what he’s done.”

Mr O’Mara has consistent­ly denied making the alleged comments, said to have been made in a bar in Sheffield in March, just months before he was elected as an MP for the first time.

A Labour Party spokeswoma­n said: “He has had the whip suspended while the investigat­ion is carried out.”

The announceme­nt was welcomed by shadow education minister Tracy Brabin, who told reporters: “That’s probably a wise move and we’ll see what comes out of the investigat­ion.”

Earlier, however, shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabart­i said Mr O’Mara deserved a second chance, having apologised for past homophobic and misogynist­ic postings on social media.

“He has apologised for things that he did 15 years ago when he was, as he describes, a troubled young man,” she said.

“He is clear that he doesn’t have those views now. And, I think, in relation to things that happened 15 years ago, people should be given a second chance. If I only enjoyed the company of people who were completely pure in relation to misogyny, homophobia, racism, and had never been wrong, I wouldn’t get out much.”

Asked how Mr O’Mara came to be selected to stand for Labour, Lady Chakrabart­i said: “I don’t think we should rule people out for bad attitudes when they were in their early 20s.

“In a sense, it was less of a problem for our generation because we didn’t have the online social media world.”

On Monday, Mr O’Mara resigned from his position on the Commons Women and Equalities Committee after the homophobic and sexist online comments he made more than a decade ago came to light.

Newly revealed online comments from the same period show he also made derogatory remarks about the Spanish and Danes.

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