O’mara has ‘no chance’ of remaining as MP if inquiry finds he lied

JARED O’MARA has no prospect of remaining an MP if an investigation finds he lied about making a “misogynistic” remark to a woman seven months ago, a Labour colleague has said.

Mr O’mara was suspended by the Labour Party on Wednesday while it conducts a probe into allegations relating to his past behaviour.

John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, said if the investigation concluded that Mr O’mara had not told the truth, he would face pressure to quit Parliament. But Mr Mann admitted “you can’t force someone to resign from Parliament”. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats confirmed they had brought forward the process for selecting a candidate to contest Mr O’mara’s Sheffield Hallam seat should a by-election be triggered.

There are reportedly five candidates in the running but Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem leader who was ousted by Mr O’mara, is not one of them. The Guido Fawkes website has published more examples of comments allegedly made by Mr O’mara when he was in his 20s. The comments are largely of a sexual nature with Mr O’mara apparently describing himself in one as a “dirty perv”.

Labour is investigating comments made in 2002 and 2004, alongside allegations that he made “misogynistic” remarks seven months ago. The MP is accused of calling Sophie Evans, a bar worker, an “ugly b----”.

The incident, which Mr O’mara has denied, allegedly occurred in March this year when the Labour MP ran a bar in Sheffield, and came to light after homophobic and sexist comments he made while in his early 20s were revealed earlier this week.

Mr Mann was asked to evaluate Mr O’mara’s chances of remaining as an MP by the BBC’S Daily Politics programme and he replied: “If he has lied, nil. If he is telling the truth, good.”

He added: “The critical issue is, does he remain as a Labour MP?”