MP Claudia Webbe handed suspended sentence for harassment

Ava Evans

The Leicester East MP was found guilty of harassment against her boyfriend’s female friend

(Note: This article was updated on June 16 to reflect the outcome of an appeal in May)

Independent MP Claudia Webbe has been sentenced for harassing her boyfriend’s female friend.

Webbe was handed a 10-week custodial sentence suspended for two years in November, but following an appeal in May, this was reduced to community service.

Judge Deborah Taylor and two magistrates ruled the total number of hours should amount to 80 – a reduction from the 200 hours she was originally ordered to complete.

Webbe, 56, was found guilty of harassment on October 13 after Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard evidence she made numerous short, silent telephone calls from a withheld number, before hanging up.

The court heard that in one of the calls, Webbe threatened Merrit with acid and warned she would send Merrit’s naked pictures and videos to her daughters.

Webbe claimed she only made “courtesy calls” to warn Merritt not to breach coronavirus regulations by meeting her boyfriend, Lester Thomas.

A judge later concluded that Webb had not “made a threat to throw acid over” Merritt but that a string of silent phone calls and threats to reveal naked pictures of her had been “a course of conduct which amounted to harassment”.

Webbe became an Independent MP in September 2020 after being suspended from the Labour party in September 2020 pending the outcome of the trial.

In a statement read to Westminster Magistrates Court in October, former leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn described the politician as a person of good character who was committed to “administration of justice”.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Webbe was “honest, responsible and an extremely caring person”.

Labour staffers aren’t so sure

One current staffer described her as “very hostile and rude” adding: “I hate to say it because it plays into that racist trope, she is a nightmare”.

A former staffer told PoliticsJOE: “I wouldn’t say she was a bully, it’s more she knew f*** all about her seat”

Following her conviction, Labour MPs urged the former MP to stand down.

Speaking on Sky News following the guilty verdict, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade Emily Thornberry said: “I’ve know Claudia a long time.

“She was a councillor in my constituency, she was well respected… but given that she has been convicted. This is a serious matter [and] I do think she should stand down.”

Webbe was elected under Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 General Election

Webbe, a close ally of Corbyn, was elected as Labour MP for Leicester East with a majority of 6,019.

In September 2020, the Leicester East MP was suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of her trial.

During her trial, the former Labour leader supplied a character reference for Webbe. A court was told she was “very committed to ensuring the administration of justice is done” and prepared to “state uncomfortable truths when it matters”.

Former Shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbott described the defendant was “very committed to working to support women”, describing her “warm, empathetic manner” and adding “I regard her as a very honest woman.”

Pending trial, Webbe continued her day-to-day duties as an independent Member of Parliament

During a Foreign Affairs Select Committee meeting earlier this year in July, Webbe asked a rather embarrassing question to Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab.

Webbe tried to put the Foreign Secretary on the spot over Belarus but her question, frankly, didn’t make any sense.

She asked: “Why does the government not consider legal action to be necessary in the case of Belarus?”

Perplexed, Raab attempted to clarify: “In the case of, I didn’t catch the name, why don’t we consider sorry, what, legal action, on Belarus?”

Webbe pushed on: “Why does the government not consider legal action to be necessary in the case of Belarus?”

The minister continued: “Sorry, what I was trying to clarify is who do you want us to sue and where?”

The MP for Leicester East struggled to find an answer throughout the agonising exchange.

Claudia Webbe is the second sitting MP to be found guilty in a court in the past two years

Fiona Onasanya, the former Labour MP for Peterborough, was convicted for perverting the course of justice in January 2019 after she lied to police over a speeding ticket.

Following a subsequent by-election, Labour’s Peterborough seat fell to the Tories.

Veteran Labour MP, Keith Vaz, is rumoured to challenge the seat at the pending by-election.

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