Politics

Labour MP Kate Osamor ordered to apologise for using Parliament stationery to stop her drug dealer son from being jailed


A LABOUR MP has been handed a slap on the wrist for using Parliament-headed paper to stop her son from being jailed for drug dealing.

Edmonton MP Kate Osamor has been ordered to apologise for using the official documents in a character reference for her 30-year-old son Ishmael who was being sentenced.

 Labour MP Kate Osamor used Parliament-headed paper to keep her son from jail

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Labour MP Kate Osamor used Parliament-headed paper to keep her son from jailCredit: PA:Press Association
 The MP for Edmonton wrote to the judge over her drug-dealing son

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The MP for Edmonton wrote to the judge over her drug-dealing son

She told a reporter from The Times that she would “come down here with a bat and smashed your face in” when he approached her at her £700,000 home in November 2018.

The altercation was captured on body cameras at the time by police officers who were at the scene.

She later quit as shadow international development secretary after her son was convicted of having £2,500 of class A and B drugs at the Bestival music festival in September 2017 – and wrote to the judge in a bid to spare him from jail.

At the time he she employed him as her chief of staff on a salary of up to £43,835 year, with a parliamentary pass allowing him access to the heart of Westminster.

 Ishmael Osamor was convicted of having £2,500 of class A and B drugs at the Bestival music festival in September 2017

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Ishmael Osamor was convicted of having £2,500 of class A and B drugs at the Bestival music festival in September 2017

SLAP ON THE WRIST

The Parliamentary Standards Committee said: “The commissioner concluded that this was a breach of the rules because it wrongly gave the impression that her correspondence carried the authority of the House.

She also breached the code by using “abusive language” to a journalist inquiring about her son’s case.

In their report they claimed the threat to attack the journalist was merely “a hot-blooded reaction to a difficult personal situation.”

It added: “Although the language used by Ms Osamor to the journalist on November 30, 2018 was extreme and highly regrettable, we believe that the strain and pressure she was under as a result of a long period of continuous scrutiny of her family affairs should be taken into account.”

They added: “It is worth emphasising that there is nothing wrong in itself in supplying a character reference to a sentencing hearing.

“Ms Osamor, as she now accepts, should not have done so on stationery bearing the crowned portcullis, but we note that there might be other circumstances in which a Member might properly use such stationery to supply a character reference for one of the staff in their parliamentary office.”

On Thursday she tweeted a statement saying she was “delighted to draw a line under this matter” with the committee accepting her apology.

She said a “media campaign” had taken a “big toll” on her family and mental health and said she was “humbled” to have been re-elected by her constituents in Edmonton.

She added: “I’ve learned from my mistakes and am looking forward to getting on with standing up for Edmonton and holding the Government to account.”

Kate Osamor former MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, delivers Labour’s vision in 2017





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