Connect with us

Published

on

An MP accused of making threatening phone calls to her partner’s friend and threatening to send naked pictures of her to her family has been found guilty of harassment.

Claudia Webbe, 56, claimed she called Michelle Merritt because “we were in a national crisis and lockdown had to be adhered to strictly”.

The MP was accused of threatening to send naked pictures of the 59-year-old to her family because she was jealous of Ms Merritt’s friendship with her partner Lester Thomas – who Ms Webbe remains in a relationship with.

The independent Leicester East MP, who was suspended by the Labour Party, is alleged to have made a string of short silent phone calls to Ms Merritt, called her a “slag” and threatened her with acid.

Ms Webbe denied one count of harassment and said she called Ms Merritt as a “courtesy” because she was unhappy the 59-year-old had been breaching lockdown rules with Mr Thomas.

Some of the phone calls had their number withheld but some did not as Ms Webbe had dialled “121” before Ms Merritt’s number instead of “141”, which withholds the caller’s number.

The magistrate said he believes some of the things Webbe said in court were “made up in the spare of the moment”.

More from UK

“Her explanation was frankly incredible and I do not believe it,” he added.

He also asked for a pre-sentencing report before he determined her sentence because he said threatening to throw acid and send intimate pictures to someone’s family “crosses the custody” threshold.

The MP was cross-examined about a number of phone calls, including a seven-second call in March 2020 in which Ms Webbe says she told Ms Merritt: “Michelle can you please not break lockdown with Lester.”

Ms Webbe told the court: “She was committing a crime. I was pointing this out, I am the victim.”

She said as an MP she felt her “household should not be breaking lockdown”.

When asked why she did not report Ms Merritt and Mr Thomas to the police, Ms Webbe said she “gave up because they continued to meet up long after April”.

Westminster Magistrates Court heard statements on Ms Webbe’s character from the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who described the MP as a “person of good character who makes a positive contribution”.

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

Prosecutor Susannah Stevens said Ms Webbe has been harassing Ms Merrit “for a long period of time”, and there had been no mention of COVID-19 in a recorded phone call during which Ms Webbe told Ms Merritt to “get out of my relationship”.

Ms Webbe entered the Commons in December 2019, winning the seat formerly held by Keith Vaz, the Labour veteran who retired in the wake of a scandal.

She was a political adviser to then-London mayor Ken Livingstone, worked as a councillor in Islington between 2010 and 2018, and was a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee.

A sentencing date will be set in due course.

Continue Reading

Politics

Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ may be the next Fed chair pick: Novogratz

Published

on

By

Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ may be the next Fed chair pick: Novogratz

Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ may be the next Fed chair pick: Novogratz

Mike Novogratz said “of course” Bitcoin could reach $200,000 if the Federal Reserve adopts a highly dovish stance following a leadership change.

Continue Reading

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer says next election will be ‘open fight’ between Labour and Reform

Published

on

By

Sir Keir Starmer says next election will be 'open fight' between Labour and Reform

Sir Keir Starmer has said the next election will be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK.

The prime minister, speaking at a conference alongside the leaders of Canada, Australia and Iceland, said the UK is “at a crossroads”.

“There’s a battle for the soul of this country, now, as to what sort of country do we want to be?” he said.

“Because that toxic divide, that decline with Reform, it’s built on a sense of grievance.”

It is the first time Sir Keir has explicitly said the next election would be a straight fight between his party and Reform – and comes the day before the Labour conference begins.

Just hours before, after Sky News revealed Nigel Farage is on course to replace him, as a seat-by-seat YouGov poll found an election held tomorrow would result in a hung parliament, with Reform winning 311 seats – just 15 short of the 326 needed to win overall.

Once the Speaker, whose seat is unopposed, and Sinn Fein MPs, who do not sit in parliament, are accounted for, no other party would be able to secure more MPs, so Reform would lead the government.

More on Reform Uk

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

YouGov: Farage set to be next PM

Sir Keir said there is a “right-wing proposition” the UK has not had before, as it has been decades of either a Labour or Tory government, “pitched usually pretty much on the centrepiece of politics, the centre ground of politics”.

The PM said Reform and its leader, Mr Farage, provide a “very different proposition” of “patriotic national renewal” under Labour and a “toxic divide”.

He described his Labour government of being “capable of expressing who and what we are as a country accurately and in a way where people feel they’re valued and they belong, and that we can actually move forward together”.

Sir Keir referenced a march down Whitehall two weeks ago, organised by Tommy Robinson, as having “sent shivers through the spines of many communities well away from London”.

Elon Musk appeared via videolink at the rally and said “violence is coming to you”, prompting accusations of inciting violence.

Read more:
Starmer reveals digital ID plan
Davey warns Farage wants to turn Britain into ‘Trump’s America’

The PM said Reform presents a 'toxic divide
Image:
The PM said Reform presents a ‘toxic divide

The prime minister said the choice for voters at the next election, set to be in 2029, “is not going to be the traditional Labour versus Conservative”.

“It’s why I’ve said the Conservative Party is dead,” he added.

“Centre-right parties in many European countries have withered on the vine and the same is happening in this country.”

Reacting to Sir Keir’s comments, a Reform UK spokesman said: “For decades, the British people have been betrayed by both Labour and the Conservatives.

“People have voted election after election for lower taxes and controlled immigration, instead, both parties have done the opposite.

“The public are now waking up to the fact Starmer is just continuing the Tory legacy of high taxes and mass immigration.”

Continue Reading

Politics

Stablecoin boom risks ‘cryptoization’ as fragmented rules leave economies exposed — Moody’s

Published

on

By

Stablecoin boom risks ‘cryptoization’ as fragmented rules leave economies exposed — Moody’s

Stablecoin boom risks ‘cryptoization’ as fragmented rules leave economies exposed — Moody’s

Moody’s warns “cryptoization” is undermining monetary policy and bank deposits in emerging markets amid uneven regulatory oversight.

Continue Reading

Trending