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| Labour MP who posted offensive comments 'merits second chance' | |
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| A Labour MP who was forced to resign his committee role on Monday evening is a reminder to young people who post distasteful jokes online that the comments will be there for ever, the party’s shadow education secretary has said. | A Labour MP who was forced to resign his committee role on Monday evening is a reminder to young people who post distasteful jokes online that the comments will be there for ever, the party’s shadow education secretary has said. |
| Angela Rayner defended her Labour colleague Jared O’Mara, who apologised for posting derogatory and homophobic comments on a forum 15 years ago, saying she believed he had genuinely changed his views. | Angela Rayner defended her Labour colleague Jared O’Mara, who apologised for posting derogatory and homophobic comments on a forum 15 years ago, saying she believed he had genuinely changed his views. |
| O’Mara spoke to Labour MPs and peers at a private meeting in parliament on Tuesday night, where he said he would resign from his role on the women and equalities select committee. | O’Mara spoke to Labour MPs and peers at a private meeting in parliament on Tuesday night, where he said he would resign from his role on the women and equalities select committee. |
| The posts on internet forums, unearthed by the Guido Fawkes website, include homophobic references to “fudge-packing” and “poofters”, inviting members of Girls Aloud to an orgy and suggesting the Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus had only won the competition because she was fat. | |
| Rayner said people should be reminded that derogatory comments posted online could be there for ever, even after the author had changed their views. | |
| “I think it’s important to recognise in a social media age that young people do put views and jokes and things that are absolutely distasteful and disgusting online and that they are there for ever,” she told Sky News. | “I think it’s important to recognise in a social media age that young people do put views and jokes and things that are absolutely distasteful and disgusting online and that they are there for ever,” she told Sky News. |
| Rayner said O’Mara had made “a very passionate, emotional speech” to MPs on Monday night and said he was “absolutely devastated” by the comments he had made. | Rayner said O’Mara had made “a very passionate, emotional speech” to MPs on Monday night and said he was “absolutely devastated” by the comments he had made. |
| “It was a very difficult speech for him. I suspect it was more difficult than his maiden speech but it was a heartfelt speech,” she said. “He said he was homophobic, he was misogynistic, but those views he had 15 years ago were completely unacceptable and he changed his views from then. I think that’s courageous of him to do that.” | |
| On Monday night, the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said O’Mara should also be suspended from the party, but Rayner said that was not what Labour colleagues wanted. | |
| “Yes, I am happy to sit alongside him,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I’ve met many people in my life who have had homophobic, misogynistic and even racist views; I’ve knocked on doors where that has been the case. Jared changed his views, that’s what’s important, he recognised they were abhorrent and wrong and he changed. Fifteen years on, he is not the Jared that made those comments.” | “Yes, I am happy to sit alongside him,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I’ve met many people in my life who have had homophobic, misogynistic and even racist views; I’ve knocked on doors where that has been the case. Jared changed his views, that’s what’s important, he recognised they were abhorrent and wrong and he changed. Fifteen years on, he is not the Jared that made those comments.” |
| O’Mara had initially said he wanted to continue to sit on the committee in order to work to confront misogyny. “I understand why they are offensive and sincerely apologise for my use of such unacceptable language,” he said in a statement earlier on Monday, issued through his office. | |
| “I made the comments as a young man, at a particularly difficult time in my life, but that is no excuse.” | “I made the comments as a young man, at a particularly difficult time in my life, but that is no excuse.” |
| He said his views had changed significantly since. “I have learned about inequalities of power and how violent language perpetuates them,” he said. | |
| The Labour MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting, who was at the MPs’ meeting in parliament said O’Mara’s apology felt genuine to those present. | |
| “The battle for equality is a battle for hearts and minds and that must surely mean that people are allowed to change their views and therefore must also be offered a second chance,” he said. | “The battle for equality is a battle for hearts and minds and that must surely mean that people are allowed to change their views and therefore must also be offered a second chance,” he said. |
| “I hope I don’t end up eating my words and that he demonstrates his commitment to equality as a new MP. I think we owe him that chance.” | “I hope I don’t end up eating my words and that he demonstrates his commitment to equality as a new MP. I think we owe him that chance.” |