Leftist MP Claudia Webbe was let off with a suspended sentence by what she had condemned as a “white court” after being convicted of harassment, including making an acid threat.
Webbe, who replaced the similarly scandal-ridden Keith Vaz as Labour MP for Leicester East in 2019, was sentenced to just 10 weeks in prison, suspended for two years — meaning her sentence will not actually be activated unless she commits further offences within than time; possibly not even then, as suspended sentences are not always activated even after further convictions.
She was given this light punishment, in addition to a requirement to perform some unpaid work, despite having railed that she was “a black woman in a white court, facing a white system and white prosecutors” following her conviction, smearing the integrity of the justice system.
“I have been deliberately targeted because I am vulnerable,” she had claimed.
“I know first-hand the sexism and racism institutions and media use to vilify black women.”
Webbe, who has made harassing phone calls to a friend of her partner, threatening to send pictures of her in the nude to family members and throw acid on her, was told by the sentencing judge, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring, that she was not the victim in the case, despite having referred to herself as such on at least four occasions during her trial.
He did go out of his way to offer the now-former Labour member praise, however, claiming to have “no doubt that, when not overtaken by jealousy and rage, you are a hard-working, upstanding Member of Parliament and of society” despite being accused of having “made up evidence on the spot” and her testimony being branded “vague, incoherent, illogical, and untruthful” after her conviction.
Shabana Mahmood, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, confirmed that Webbe was now expelled from the party. She had already had the party whip withdrawn, but seems determined to hang on in post as an independent in order to retain her office’s substantial salary and associated benefits, wishing her constituents a happy Diwali on social media prior to her sentencing, as well as tweeting about “the super rich” paying taxes and the plight of Indian farmers.
Webbe, who claims she will try to appeal her conviction, may now face a recall petition which could trigger a by-election, however.
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