‘Acid’ Threat MP Gets Suspended Sentence, Paving Way for Recall Bid
20:45 GMT 04.11.2021 (Updated: 20:59 GMT 04.11.2021)
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Legislation passed in 2015 — and invoked thrice since that time — allows for MPs convicted of crimes or suspended from Parliament for two weeks or more to be recalled and a by-election held, if 10 percent of their constituents sign a petition in favour of the move.
A left-wing MP who threatened to throw acid on her perceived love rival has received a 10-week suspended prison sentence.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring handed down the sentence to Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe, who was elected as a Labour member in the Midlands seat, at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Webbe had her sentence for harassment held over for two years and was also ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, and pay £1,000 in compensation to her victim Michelle Merritt, as well as £2,000 in costs.
But Goldspring refused to grant Merrit's request for a restraining order against Webbe.
"No woman should be threatened or harassed the way Miss Webbe has done to me over the years, let alone a politician," Merritt said from behind a curtain in the courtroom.
The Labour Party confirmed that Webbe was no longer a member after failing to appeal against its decision to expel her following her conviction last month. The party had previously withdrawn the Parliamentary whip from the MP when she was first charged in September 2020.
Webbe was convicted last month over a series of threatening phone calls she made to Merritt between September 2018 and April 2020. The court heard how the MP made 19 of those calls after police had warned her to stop.
'I'm not going to defend the indefensible.'
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 4, 2021
Sam Tarry MP says Labour is "taking action" to expel Claudia Webbe, independent MP for Leicester East, after she was given a suspended sentence for threatening to throw acid at her partner's friend.
Latest: https://t.co/LdJT7evfSl pic.twitter.com/musZIQRbdI
In a recording of a call played in court, Webbe accused Merritt of having an affair with her partner Lester Thomas, called the latter a "slag", threatened to send nude photos and videos of the victim to her family and said "you should be acid", a phrase interpreted as 'you should have acid thrown on you'.
Merritt had earlier received several intimidating but silent calls from a withheld number while meeting Thomas, and old friend of hers, for coffee.
Goldspring said the MP had pursued a "campaign of harassment" out of jealousy, meaning to "cause real harm and distress", adding that her acid attack comment amounted "to a threat of very serious violence".
The magistrate said Webbe, who claimed the recording was taken out of context and that her calls were made out of fear that Merritt and Lester were breaking COVID-19 restrictions, had shown "little remorse or contrition".
“I am very disappointed by the decision of the magistrate and want to strongly reiterate that I am innocent," Webbe said in a statement later. "I am lodging an appeal and despite today’s sentence I fully expect the appeal to be granted and that, ultimately, it will be successful.”
Last month she reportedly claimed her conviction was due to "sexism and racism".
"I am a black woman in a white court, facing a white system and white prosecutors," Webbe wrote in a message to supporters. "I know first-hand the sexism and racism institutions and media use to vilify black women."
19 October 2021, 13:10 GMT
Recall Process
Even with the custodial element of the sentence suspended, Parliamentary Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle must still allow a recall petition against the MP to go ahead in her constituency unless she wins her appeal.
Under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, the signatures of 10 percent of registered voters in the seat are required to force a by-election.
The legislation, which Conservative Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg said is too limited in scope, has been employed three times since it was enacted; twice successfully.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Ian Paisley Jr narrowly avoided a recall in 2018 after he was suspended for 30 days for not declaring two trips to Sri Lanka paid for by the South Asian country's government, with 9.4 percent of his constituents signing the petition.
In December 2018, Labour MP for Peterborough Fiona Onasanya was convicted of perverting the course of justice after trying to evade a speeding penalty by claiming her brother was driving. Her three-month sentence allowed for a recall petition which almost 20 percent of her constituents signed. Onasanya was expelled from the Labour Party at the time of her conviction, but initially vowed to stand as an independent. Labour candidate Lisa Forbes won the seat by a majority of less than 700 in June 2019, only to lose it six months later to Tory Paul Bristow at the December general election.
Chris Davies, Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire in Wales, pled guilty in March 2019 to making £700 worth of false expense claims, and was issued a £1,500 fine and sentenced to 50 hours of community service. The sentence triggered a by-election in August of that year that saw Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds overturn Davies majority of some 8,000 to win. But Dodds was promptly beaten by Tory Fay Jones the following December.
Another Welsh Tory, Rob Roberts of the Delyn constituency, escaped recall earlier this year after the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found that he had made "repeated, unwelcome sexual advances" towards a male member of his staff, suspending him from the House of Commons for six weeks. Since the IEP was set up after the 2015 act was passed, the law did not cover the suspensions it orders. That loophole was closed by an amendment passed last month.
Tory Sleaze, Labour Sleaze
Webbe's sentencing will be a welcome distraction for the Conservatives from the furore surrounding their vote on Wednesday to overturn the suspension of Owen Paterson, the MP for North Shropshire in Wales. Paterson announced on Thursday afternoon he was resigning to shield his family from attacks on him and his late wife Rose, whose suicide last year he has blamed on the probe into his conduct.
"Webbe is the seventh Labour MP to be handed a jail sentence, suspended or otherwise, in the past 10 years," a senior Tory source told political gossip website Guido Fawkes.
"We had Illsley, Chaytor, Devine, McShane and Morley thieving; Onasanya perverting the course of justice and now Webbe harassing members of the public," the source recalled. "Everything from fingers in the till to acid in the face. It’s hardly surprising that they’re so strongly against the police and sentencing bill. Thankfully we are building thousands of new prison places."
As a sitting MP, Webbe earns almost £82,000 per year plus expenses — even if she does not turn up for Parliamentary debates and votes — meaning her fine and costs adds up to a mere two weeks' wages.
Webbe was selected as candidate for the Leicester East seat after long-serving MP Keith Vaz stepped down ahead of the 2019 general election amid his own allegations of serious misconduct.
At the time Webbe was a member of Islington borough council in North London — an area covering then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's seat, and had previously worked at London city hall under left-wing Labour mayor Ken Livingstone, who resigned from the Labour Party in 2018 amid a his row over allegedly anti-Semitic comments.
Corbyn, his former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott all wrote character references in Webbe's favour for her trial.
Vaz allegedly slept with male prostitutes and offered to buy cocaine for them. Last month he was censured by the Parliamentary Standards Committee for bullying staff member Jenny McCullough.
With a by-election in Leicester East likely thanks to Claudia Webbe, there are strong rumours that Keith Vaz is set for a comeback
— Martin Daubney ✌🏻🇬🇧 (@MartinDaubney) November 4, 2021
The same Keith who pretended to be a washing machine salesman called Jim & offered to buy cocaine for rent boys in his flathttps://t.co/gsgAJ9yde3
Vaz is now reportedly preparing for a bid to be selected to run again in the East Midlands seat, where Labour's lead over the Tories slumped to 6,000 votes at the last election. The City's large Indian community may have been alienated by Labour's attempts to court the Pakistani vote in the recent Batley and Spen by-election by verbally attacking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
