Former Ed Miliband aide hits out at Labour leadership over Jared O'Mara selection
3 min read
An MP and former aide to Ed Miliband has hit out at Labour for inadequately vetting Jared O’Mara – saying he would not have become a candidate under the former leader.
Lucy Powell said the history of the disgraced MP - who last week was revealed to have made a string of misogynistic and homophobic comments online – should have been known by the party before he was selected.
Her comments come after it was revealed the party recruited Mr O’Mara, who has since been suspended, as candidate for Sheffield Hallam in June's election without interviewing him.
Yesterday, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, the wife of the former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg – who Mr O’Mara unseated – said both she and her husband knew of his comments during the campaign.
Ms Powell was among the early voices calling for Mr O’Mara’s suspension, after it was also alleged that he made abusive comments to a woman in a nightclub just months ago.
Speaking on the BBC’s Daily Politics, the former shadow minister said the party had to take a “strong stance” against harassment and abuse, regardless of if the person involved is seen as a political ally.
“They should have known about his past. There’s obviously been a failure in the vetting process if they didn’t,” she said.
“I used to be a chief of staff for Ed Miliband and we went through many disciplinary issues, whether it was about MPs, or whether it was about trying to select candidates for by-elections.
"In our era, Jared would not have got through that vetting process and I don’t know what happened in this case that he did.”
'CULTURE CHANGE'
Ms Powell’s comments come amid claims of widespread harassment by MPs towards parliamentary staff, including by Tory MP Mark Garnier, who is alleged to have sent an aide to buy him sex toys.
She said that the onus was on all leaders, including Jeremy Corbyn, to mount a “culture change” in tackling abuse or harassment from those in influential or powerful positions.
“That’s why I think it was right that he was suspended and we’ve got to take a very strong stance and it can’t just be because someone is your political ally that you are softer on that or that it’s a minister and you don’t want the kind of fuss.
"You’ve got to take a strong chance. Culture change requires strong leadership and that applies to Jeremy Corbyn, Theresa May and everyone else."
She highlighted the case of BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg needing a body guard at Labour’s conference as an example of abuse towards women specific to her party.
“It was only a month ago that a female leading political correspondent required a body guard to come to our conference and I don’t think enough was said at the time and we need to show strong leadership even when it comes from our side,” she added.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
