Jared O'Mara suspended amid fresh storm over misogynistic comments made in 2009
2 min read
Labour MP Jared O'Mara has been suspended from the party, as it emerged he made misogynistic comments online as recently as 2009.
The investigation centres on claims, which Mr O'Mara denies, that he called a barmaid an "ugly bitch" as recently as eight months ago.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said there would be a "full investigation" followed by "a final decision" about his future.
The Sheffield Hallam MP was already in the spotlight over a series of racist, sexist and homophobic online posts, some from as far back as 2002.
Mr O'Mara has apologised for the remarks, but said they were made when he was a "young man, at a particularly difficult time of my life".
He said he had since been on "a journey" and did not hold the views he did in his early 20s.
Questions have been raised over how his local party in Sheffield allowed him to become a candidate, given the comments he made online were in the public domain.
Former shadow minister Lucy Powell led the calls for Mr O'Mara to have the Labour whip removed while the allegations against him are investigated.
Equalities minister Justine Greening wrote to Jeremy Corbyn yesterday demanding he take action against Mr O'Mara.
It has now emerged that the MP made a series of extremely crude comments about women in a music review written in 2009, when he was 28 years old, long after he had first stood as a Labour candidate.
The Guido Fawkes blog details a music review in which Mr O'Mara makes a lewd remark about the actress Angelina Jolie.
The same site details another review written in 2004, where the Labour MP refers to female audience members as "sexy little slags".
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn today condemned the "heinous" remarks and said it was the latest revelations from 2009 that had finally prompted the MP's suspension.
He added that an inquiry, announced yesterday, would consider whether Mr O'Mara could continue as a Labour MP.
Asked what the difference was between remarks made in 2009 and 2002, the spokesman replied: "seven years".
Elsewhere Buzzfeed reported this morning on a series of derogatory remarks Mr O'Mara made about children in his home city smoking crack cocaine and stealing money from charity boxes.
In another online forum post in 2004, he wrote: "Round are [sic] way all the under tens much prefer anti-social behaviour and crack rocks to [TV presenters] Dik and Dom. They only hang around ASDA to break into the 'guide dogs for the blind' collection statue at the entrance."
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