Claudia Webbe used to be one of Bame’s most prominent MPs. Claudia Webbe was recently sentenced to ten months in prison with a suspended term of two years after she was found guilty for a terrible campaign of harassment which lasted over two years.
Webbe bombarded a friend of her partner with abusive phone calls, threatened to attack her with acid and to send naked pictures of her to family and friends, while ludicrously later insisting she was the victim because she was ‘a black woman in a white court’.
Despite her expulsion from the Labour Party she faces a recall petition in Leicester East. If she loses an appeal, it could lead to a by-election.
Webbe bombarded a friend of her partner with abusive phone calls, threatened to attack her with acid and to send naked pictures of her to family and friends, while ludicrously later insisting she was the victim because she was ‘a black woman in a white court’
Webbe’s worries do not stop there. Webbe has been a loyal tenant of the Arhag Housing Association East London for over a decade. The association proudly supports a zero tolerance policy on harassment.
‘We have a harassment clause in the tenancy agreement and there are a number of ways we can take action against those who carry out harassment,’ its website warns.
If Webbe hasn’t already examined her landlord’s strict policies, now would be the time…
The revival of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore by the English National Opera could not be more timely for those 248 Tory MPs who ruefully followed the whipped vote to block the suspension of pocket-lining Owen Paterson. A couplet sung by First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Joseph Porter might sting when they hear it: ‘I always voted at my party’s call . . . And I never thought of thinking for myself at all!’
Angela, spot the ball
Downing Street quietly announced that it will not give Angela Merkel the ball from the Euro 2020 match between Germany and England as an end-of-year gift as Merkel wraps up 16 years of her tenure in power.
England won the game at Wembley in June 2-0 — hardly something the outgoing German Chancellor would want to be reminded of.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is creating a Garden of Remembrance in New Palace Yard on the parliamentary estate today, marking the centenary of the adoption of the poppy as the flower of remembrance.
Representatives of the Commonwealth, British Overseas Territories, and MPs will plant tributes. There will be 718 on Armistice Day. The Speaker will then lay a wreath beside his counterpart at the Lords’ and Black Rod.
After John Bercow, the pompous and preening Speaker was a refreshing breath of air.
One Labour MP is surely delighted that ABBA’s new album features the track Keep An Eye On Dan. ‘A gift of a campaign song,’ enthuses an ally of former Army officer Dan Jarvis, tipped as a successor to Keir Starmer.
But perhaps supporters shouldn’t get too carried away. The lyrics go: ‘Keep an eye on Dan / Promise me you can / He gets out of hand if you let him.’ Hardly a ringing endorsement.
Overheard in the Commons, a Tory MP muttering: ‘It’s strange that France thinks all the fish in the English Channel are theirs, but the people crossing the Channel in dinghies are ours.’
Ed is a U-turner.
Sir Ed Davey is leader of the Lib Dems. Do you remember them?Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems (remember them?), proudly displayed his green credentials last week in Parliament. He boasted how he had stopped fracking for natural gas.
‘I slowed it down and it is not happening,’ he insisted. ‘The record will show not only that there is no fracking industry in the UK but that there is a massive renewables industry — and that’s thanks to the Liberal Democrats!’ That’s one way of putting it. His views when Davey was the energy minister of 2013 were quite different.
‘The potential for shale gas is fantastic for our energy security,’ he trilled. Speaking at an All-Party Parliamentary Group, he said: ‘I love shale gas!’ Cabinet minister Michael Gove mocked these double standards.
‘Now he is no longer in Government he seems to have reversed his position,’ said Gove.
‘An unprecedented thing for a Lib Dem: saying one thing to one constituency, and another thing to another!’