Jared O'Mara: Football and lad culture warped my mind
2 min read
A Labour MP who made a series of sexist and homophobic remarks has said football and lad culture “warped” his mind when he was a young man.
Jared O’Mara also appeared to suggest a Conservative MP who had made similar comments to his should be judged differently.
The Sheffield Hallam MP quit the Women and Equalities Select Committee last night after offensive internet posts he made some 15 years ago were uncovered by Guido Fawkes.
In one post he said singer Michelle McManus had only won Pop Idol “because she was fat”, and suggested it would be funny if the jazz star Jamie Cullum were “sodomised with his own piano”.
But shortly after quitting the committee he gave an unreserved apology and told Huck magazine he was “deeply ashamed of the man I was 15 years ago”.
“The culture I grew up in was very different… it was lad culture and football and all that. I got swept up with it and it warped my mindset,” he lamented.
“It turned me into a bitter and spiteful person, if I’m being honest."
Asked if he should quit as an MP, Mr O’Mara said: “I think there’s a place for me… I want to educate people and help people going through those prejudices grow out of them.
“I’ve gone on that journey and feel I can help.”
But he went on: “If a Conservative MP had made similar comments I’d say it depends on what journey they had been on since.
“If they’d honestly changed and believes in equality and egalitarianism then absolutely [they have a place in Parliament], but the very culture of Conservatism doesn’t foster that equality.”
Elsewhere, Shadow Women and Equalities Minister Dawn Butler said she is sure Labour will investigate Mr O’Mara’s comments and that a parliamentary HR department should be instituted deal with such issues.
She told the BBC's Daily Politics: "What I'm calling for is an HR department in Parliament. There have been so many circumstances and many situations that have happened in Parliament that you need an HR department in order to address these issues."
But Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner leapt to the defence of her colleague, saying she would continue to sit alongside him in the Commons because he had reformed.
“People do change their views...it is important that they recognise that and apologise and correct that behaviour,” she told Radio 4 this morning.
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