Labour MPs pose with convicted harasser

Irony was officially pronounced dead this week after disgraced MP Claudia Webbe launched an attack on ‘wrong, bad and exploitative’ bosses. Webbe is facing a possible jail sentence after being convicted of harassment last week but is still merrily carrying on as if nothing has happened, regularly launching Twitter attacks on the government and blithely ignoring all calls to resign — even those from the official Labour press office.

Still, even Mr S was surprised to learn of Webbe’s latest act of brazenness. This afternoon Labour MPs conducted a photo-call in parliament, with good comrades lining up on the green next to the gates to show their support for Barry Gardiner’s ‘fire and rehire’ campaign to ban employers from dismissing staff and then re-employing them on worse terms. 

Steerpike’s mole on the estate was surprised to spot Webbe taking her place among the MPs – despite her being suspended from the party since September 2020. Her former leader Jeremy Corbyn, another Labour MP suspended since October 2020, also joined them and was flanked by John McDonnell and the, er, current Shadow Justice Secretary David Lammy. And who was standing just along the line from them? None other than current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr S is all too aware that in politics you take your support from wherever you find it. But posing in solidarity with a convicted harasser and a man suspended for his remarks on antisemitism might just be taking that a bit too far.