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Jared O’Mara aide uses MP’s Twitter account to quit in angry tirade Jared O’Mara urged to quit as MP after aide's angry resignation
(about 7 hours later)
An MP has been described as “the most disgustingly morally bankrupt person I have ever had the displeasure of working with” by his chief of staff in a series of scathing tweets posted from the politician’s own account. An MP described by his former chief of staff as “the most disgustingly morally bankrupt person I have ever had the displeasure of working with” is under increasing pressure to step down after claims he is failing his constituents.
Jared O’Mara, who ousted Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam in 2017, was described as a “selfish, degenerate prick” by Gareth Arnold in a very public resignation on Tuesday night. Jared O’Mara, who ousted Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam in one of the big surprises of the 2017 general election, was described as a “selfish, degenerate prick” by Gareth Arnold in a very public resignation on Tuesday night.
Arnold posted a stream of tweets aimed at O’Mara using the MP’s own Twitter account, accusing him of not caring about his constituents and having “a vile, inexcusable contempt for the people who voted you in”.Arnold posted a stream of tweets aimed at O’Mara using the MP’s own Twitter account, accusing him of not caring about his constituents and having “a vile, inexcusable contempt for the people who voted you in”.
O’Mara was elected as an MP in June 2017 but by October of that year had been suspended from the Labour party after a series of sexist and homophobic tweets emerged, written before he was elected. In Sheffield, many constituents demanded O’Mara, who sits as an independent, stand down. But some MPs urged compassion for O’Mara, who has spoken of making suicide attempts after being suspended from the Labour party when a series of sexist and homophobic tweets emerged, written before he was elected.
These included inviting members of the pop group Girls Aloud to an orgy and saying the musician Jamie Cullum should be “sodomised with his own piano”. He was also accused of shouting abuse at a woman he met on a dating app. Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, near Sheffield, tweeted: “To all those who are enjoying this character assassination and whilst appreciating that Jared hasn’t covered himself in glory, this is not right. Just because he’s an MP doesn’t mean he’s not a human being.”
He apologised for the comments and was reinstated at the start of July 2018, but quit the party a few days later, saying in an open letter to his constituents that he had been “made unfairly to feel like a criminal” and felt Labour had not conducted a fair investigation. Another Labour MP, Jess Philipps, said: “I’m sure he is an awful MP and probably not a good boss, but it sounds to me like he’s really unwell and deserves help.”
But he refused to call a byelection and continued as an independent MP. Controversy continued to follow him: he closed his constituency office for a month in April amid reports that all his staff were either sacked or walked out and he stopped holding surgeries or responding to correspondence. Arnold, who has a history of online pranks, is an old friend of O’Mara’s from Sheffield’s nightlife scene and began working for him eight weeks ago.
On 15 July, Arnold was quoted in the Sheffield Star trying to defend O’Mara after he had cancelled three appointments with a constituent who wanted to talk to him about her autistic son’s schooling. After coming in for criticism for resigning so publicly, Arnold insisted on Twitter that “all other avenues have been explored”. The Guardian understands he even cold-called the Liberal Democrats’ office in Sheffield last week and raised a number of “serious concerns”, saying he was going to quit.
But by Tuesday evening he had apparently had enough, posting a series of Tweets castigating his now ex-boss using @jaredomaramp – an account created the day after O’Mara left the Labour party. There was no answer when the Guardian attended O’Mara’s constituency office on Wednesday. A receptionist in the city centre building said there was no one in his office. O’Mara has not been seen in public since Arnold’s resignation but told the Mirror he needed “to get to the bottom of the matter” and would comment once he had “ascertained what’s going on”.
The thread ended with the tweets: “Sheffield Hallam deserves so much better than you. You have wasted opportunities which people dare not to even dream of … Consider this my resignation. Thanks Gareth Arnold.” Louise Wilcockson, a prominent environmental campaigner who lives in O’Mara’s constituency, said that after a series of controversies, which began in October 2017 when he was suspended from the Labour party, “trust has been completely eroded”.
O’Mara told the Mirror he needed “to get to the bottom of the matter” and would comment once he had “ascertained what’s going on”. O’Mara quit Labour in July last year and announced he would be carrying on as an independent, refusing to call a byelection.
Arnold, who some have noted has a history of online pranks, told BBC 5 Live on Tuesday night that he had been working for O’Mara for eight weeks but had known him “for absolutely years”. Wilcockson, a former teacher, said she had been hopeful O’Mara would “empathise with the most vulnerable in society” given his own disabilities. However, she said his constituents had been let down.
When asked about the method of his resignation, he said: “I appreciate from the outside it looks like a really horrible thing to do.” But he added: “We’re left with a situation where there’s people in Sheffield Hallam who are not being represented, there are people who are waiting on their immigration status, there are people who are not getting houses, there are people having their benefits stopped and all these things stopped just because he’s not prepared to do his job properly. “It’s just been one shocking saga after another,” she said. “Now he’s not even Labour but independent, so his Labour voters didn’t get what they voted for either. And this is what we lost Nick Clegg for? We need to demand better.”
“Yes it was a ridiculous statement but it’s the one thing I think might motivate change.” Laura Gordon, who has been the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary candidate for Hallam since November 2017, said she was sympathetic about O’Mara’s health problems but Arnold’s allegations raised “real issues”.
She said: “We don’t know whether everything Gareth Arnold has claimed is true, but at the same time Jared has a responsibility to his constituencies. It’s a responsibility that he chose to make when he was elected and at the moment he isn’t fulfilling that responsibility. There are people in urgent situations in Hallam who need an MP to help them and by not doing his job he is learning vulnerable people in the lurch.”
Gordon claimed constituents had come to her for help after failing to get meetings with O’Mara. “We have done what we can to help but there is only so much you can do without the office of an MP.”
In March, two aides who had been with O’Mara since his election resigned. Shortly afterwards, O’Mara sacked two members of staff including Margaret Flude, his office manager, who promptly announced she would be taking him to an industrial tribunal. The case is due to be heard in September. A fifth member of staff left in solidarity and O’Mara’s office was shut for a month.
O’Mara reopened his office in May with new staff including Arnold, telling the Mirror he would “rise like a phoenix from the flames”. But he continued to receive criticism for missing key votes in the Commons, particularly related to Brexit.
In a blogpost on his own website, O’Mara said he would continue to be absent because of physical health problems. “I have a slipped disc in my back, a torn bicep in my left arm and cerebral palsy in my right arm. I am forced into wearing a vest and elasticated shorts. My general mobility is laughable,” he wrote.The Guardian understands that parliament made numerous accommodations for O’Mara’s disabilities, including allocating him an office close to the debating chamber, which until Ed Miliband’s departure in 2015 was reserved for the leader of the opposition.
John Bercow, the Speaker, gave O’Mara special dispensation to not wear a tie in the chamber, and O’Mara was allowed to take Uber taxis instead of the tube because he struggles with stairs and crowded places.
In Sheffield, staff arranged for many constituency surgeries to be held in the fully accessible Ecclesall Library, only for O’Mara to cancel at the last minute.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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