O'MARA CHARGED WITH FRAUD

One of Labour's worst ever MPs has been charged with seven counts of fraud relating to his brief time in office.  Jared O'Mara (pictured) was elected in the 2017 general election in a shock victory over former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.  His two year stint as MP for Sheffield Hallam was a litany of disasters and he did not stand for re-election in 2019.

The 39-year-old is one of three men to face charges and stands accused of seven counts of fraud by false representation.  His former aide, Gareth Arnold, faces six counts of fraud by false representation.  The third man, John Woodliff, is charged with entering into an arrangement which facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by another.  O'Mara and Woodliff also face a joint charge of entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition of criminal property.

A spokesperson for the Crime Prosecution Service said: "The charge relates to an allegation he [O'Mara] made fraudulent invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority jointly with Gareth Arnold, who is also charged with six counts of the same offence".

The trio will appear before Sheffield magistrates on September 24.

An ignominious end for a dreadful political career?  That remains to be seen, but there is little doubt that O'Mara has been a walking disaster for Labour regardless of the outcome.

He was not expected to win the seat when he was hurriedly selected after Theresa May's snap election announcement.  A Corbyn supporter, naturally, things began to unravel for him when historic tweets emerged that would have put England cricketer Ollie Robinson to shame.  By the time he bothered to make his maiden speech to the House of Commons a full 13 months after being elected, he had been suspended from Labour, readmitted and then bizarrely resigned to continue as an independent.  O'Mara would go on to excuse his lack of attendance and poor casework on various excuses, primarily several physical and mental disorders including cerebral palsy and autism.  When constituents called on him to resign he publicly insulted them.

In July 2019 his co-accused Gareth Arnold took to O'Mara's Twitter account to publicly resign his post in a brutal thread (see below).

Later that same month O'Mara was accused of sexually harassing a member of staff, for which he was later barred from the Palace of Westminster.  And this is just the abridged version of his long list of indiscretions during just two and a half years in office.

Priceless.

IN FOCUS: SHEFFIELD

The Steel City contains five Parliamentary constituencies inside its boundaries.  A sixth seat - Penistone and Stocksbridge - overlaps Sheffield and Barnsley, consisting of three council wards from each.  At the 2017 general election all six seats returned Labour MPs, but two of whom have since resigned from the party.

Population (2018 est):  582,506
City Council:  Labour, since 2011
Composition:  Labour (49 cllrs), Lib Dem (26), Green (8), Ind (1)
Ethnic make-up (2011):  white 88.1%, Asian 6.8%, black 2.5%, mixed 1.9%, other 0.7%
EU referendum:  51% Leave
Largest Parliamentary majority:  Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield, Lab) majority 27,748
Smallest Parliamentary majority:  Penistone & Stocksbridge (Angela Smith, Lib Dem*) majority 1,322

* Elected as a Labour MP

The 2017 general election turned Sheffield 100% red for the first time in history, having finally taken the seat of Hallam.  The Lib Dems had held Hallam for twenty years up to that point, before which it was a Conservative seat.  Hallam will be one to watch in the forthcoming election, as will Penistone & Stocksbridge.  The Lib Dems will look to retake Hallam and the Tories will have their eye on Penistone, although the presence of a Brexit Party candidate could prevent a Tory gain there.

Sheffield City Council was fought over by Labour and the Lib Dems for more than a decade before Labour took decisive control in 2011.  The Lib Dems remain the main opposition party and there are no Conservative councillors.

Sheffield is part of another layer of local government, the Sheffield City Region.  This is headed by an elected mayor - Labour's Dan Jarvis.  Jarvis is a controversial figure, having refused to give up his seat in Parliament when he took on the role.  This has led to him being called 'Two Jobs Jarvis'.  He will be defending his Barnsley Central seat again at the next election.

The city voted narrowly to Leave in 2016 and its constituencies are divided between strong Leave and strong Remain votes.  All the MPs elected in 2017 were Remainers.

Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough

Incumbent:  Gill Furniss (Lab), majority 19,143

Born:  Sheffield, 1957

First elected:  2016 (by-election)

Leave/Remain:  Remain, but voted to trigger Article 50

Notes:  Furniss is the widow of the previous MP Harry Harpham

Brightside & Hillsborough has been held by Labour since its creation in 2010

EU referendum:  60% Leave

General election 2017

Gill Furniss (Lab) 28,193 (67.3%) +10.8%
Michael Naughton (Con) 9,050 (21.6%) +10.6%
Shane Harper (UKIP) 2,645 (6.3%) -15.8%
Simon Clement-Jones (Lib Dem) 1,061 (2.5%) -2.0%
Christine Kubo (Green) 737 (1.8%) -2.5%
Mike Driver (Workers) 137 (0.3%) New
Muzafar Rahman (SDP) 47 (0.1%) New

BTLP general election prediction:  Lab HOLD

Sheffield Central

Incumbent:  Paul Blomfield (Lab), majority 27,748
Born:  Kent, 1953
First elected:  2010
Leave/Remain:  Remain, but voted to trigger Article 50
Notes:  Endorsed Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership challenge

Sheffield Central has been held by Labour since its creation in 1983

EU referendum:  68% Remain, strongest Remain seat in Sheffield

General election 2017

Paul Blomfield (Lab) 33,963 (70.9%) +15.9%
Stephanie Roe (Con) 6,215 (13.0%) +1.8%
Natalie Bennett (Green) 3,848 (8.0%) -7.8%
Shaffaq Mohammed (Lib Dem) 2,465 (5.1%) -4.5%
Dominic Cook (UKIP) 1,060 (2.2%) -5.2%
Jack Carrington (Yorkshire) 197 (0.4%) New
Rob Moran (Pirate) 91 (0.2%) New
Joe Westnidge (SDP) 38 (0.1%) New

BTLP general election prediction:  Lab HOLD

Sheffield Hallam

Incumbent:  Jared O'Mara (Ind), majority 2,125
Born:  Sheffield, 1981
First elected:  2017, as a Labour MP
Leave/Remain:  Remain
Notes:  O'Mara was not expected to win the seat and it was one of the biggest shocks on election night.  He suffers from various health problems including cerebral palsy.  He didn't make his maiden speech in the Commons until July 2018, more than a year after he was elected.  He was the final MP to do so.  He was suspended by Labour in October 2017 over misogynistic and homophobic comments, but the party announced in July 2018 that he would be reinstated.  However, he resigned from the party days later and clung onto his seat as an independent.  He will not stand in the forthcoming election.
Scandals:  Online comments, treatment of staff, Twitter hijack, sexual harassment, fraud arrest

Hallam has been held by Labour since 2017, before which it was held by the Lib Dems since 1997.  Between 1918 and 1997 the seat was held by the Conservatives.

EU referendum:  66% Remain

General election 2017

Jared O'Mara (Lab) 21,881 (38.4%) +2.6%
Nick Clegg (Lib Dem) 19,756 (34.7%) -5.3%
Ian Walker (Con) 13,561 (23.8%) +10.2%
John Thurley (UKIP) 929 (1.6%) -4.8%
Logan Robin (Green) 823 (1.4%) -1.8%
Steven Winstone (SDP) 70 (0.1%) New

BTLP general election prediction:  Lib Dem GAIN

Sheffield Heeley

Incumbent:  Louise Haigh (Lab), majority 13,828
Born:  Sheffield, 1987
First elected:  2015
Leave/Remain:  Remain, but voted to trigger Article 50
Notes:  Shadow Minister of State for Policing.  Endorsed Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership challenge.

Heeley has been held by Labour since 1974

EU referendum:  57% Leave

General election 2017

Louise Haigh (Lab) 26,524 (60.0%) +11.8%
Gordon Gregory (Con) 12,696 (28.7%) +12.6%
Joe Otten (Lib Dem) 2,022 (4.6%) -6.7%
Howard Denby (UKIP) 1,977 (4.5%) -12.9%
Declan Walsh (Green) 943 (2.1%) -4.0%
Jaspreet Oberoi (SDP) 64 (0.1%) New

BTLP general election prediction:  Lab HOLD

Sheffield South East

Incumbent:  Clive Betts (Lab), majority 11,798
Born:  Sheffield, 1950
First elected:  1992
Leave/Remain:  Remain, but voted to trigger Article 50
Notes:  Elected for Sheffield Attercliffe in 1992, his third attempt to enter Parliament.  Suspended from Parliament for seven days in 2003 over the Brazilian male escort scandal.  Endorsed Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership challenge.
Scandals:  Brazilian male escort visa, expenses scandal, McDonalds trip

Sheffield South East has been held by Labour since its creation in 2010.  Its predecessor seat (Sheffield Attercliffe) was held by Labour from 1935.

EU referendum:  66% Leave, strongest Leave seat in Sheffield

General election 2017

Clive Betts (Lab) 25,520 (58.5%) +7.1%
Lindsey Cawrey (Con) 13,722 (31.5%) +14.1%
Dennise Dawson (UKIP) 2,820 (6.5%) -15.4%
Colin Ross (Lib Dem) 1,432 (3.3%) -2.1%
Ishleen Oberoi (SDP) 102 (0.2%) New

BTLP general election prediction:  Lab HOLD

Penistone & Stocksbridge

Incumbent:  Angela Smith (Lib Dem), majority 1,322
Born:  Grimsby, 1961
First elected:  2005, as a Labour MP
Leave/Remain:  Remain, abstained in the vote on triggering Article 50
Notes:  She represented Sheffield Hillsborough from 2005 until it was abolished in the 2010 boundary changes, after which she switched to the new seat of Penistone & Stocksbridge.  A vocal opponent of Jeremy Corbyn, she endorsed Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership election.  In February 2019 she quit Labour along with six other MPs and was a founder member of Change UK.  In September she joined the Liberal Democrats, but will contest Altrincham & Sale West in Cheshire at the next election.
Scandals:  Expenses scandal, funny tinge

Penistone & Stocksbridge was held by Labour from its creation in 2010.  The seat of Penistone on which its boundaries are similar was held by Labour from 1935 to its abolition in 1983.

EU referendum:  61% Leave

General election 2017

Angela Smith (Lab) 22,807 (45.8%) +3.8%
Nicola Wilson (Con) 21,485 (43.2%) +15.5%
John Booker (UKIP) 3,453 (6.9%) -16.0%
Penny Baker (Lib Dem) 2,042 (4.1%) - 2.2%

BTLP general election prediction:  Con GAIN

NEXT WEEK:  Liverpool

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O'MARA TAKES A BREAK

The extraordinary turn of events this week relating to Jared O'Mara have taken another twist.  Despite everything that his former PR man did and said about him on Twitter, the pair appear to have reconciled and the MP is going to take a break while he seeks help for mental health issues.  Gareth Arnold tweeted about their meeting yesterday, less than two days after he had called his former employer a "degenerate prick", among other things.

Obviously mental health is a serious matter, but there does appear to be a pattern with O'Mara using health problems to excuse his position as arguably the worst MP the UK has ever seen.  If things are so bad why doesn't he resign and allow someone better equipped to represent the voters of Sheffield Hallam?  We all know the answer to that question.  It's easy money.

O'Mara has now released a statement in which he displays all the characteristics of a spoilt millennial.  It is mostly a rant against the Labour party and Jeremy Corbyn, as if they are somehow to blame for his predicament.  This deflection and inability to accept responsibility for one's actions is sadly a theme for the modern age.  If his former party is to take any blame whatsoever, it is for selecting this hapless individual as a Parliamentary candidate in the first place.  Perhaps this episode, like the Onasanya scandal, will persuade them to be more careful with their selection process in future.

O'Mara's statement in full as follows.

In a few weeks, I will be making a follow-up statement regarding my position, until then I will be taking time out to receive professional help to deal with my mental health and personal issues regarding self-medication.  During this time I would appreciate you could give myself and family privacy.

This is what I would like to say in the meantime:

I would like to start by apologising to my family, my friends and my constituents.  I have not been honest with you about the depths of my depression and self-loathing.  When I started this job in 2017 I was a different man: a confident and passionate man that wanted to help others.  Sadly, I was unable to do that because very quickly I was bullied and mistreated in a harsh and unforgiving environment and that led me to be weak.

I wasn't even meant to win the election.  I stood because I wanted to give my time to support the democratic process and because I was inspired by Jeremy Corbyn and everything he had to say. Particularly about "Equality and Fairness".  I voted for him twice, was a member of his group 'Momentum' and practically idolised him.

But I got no support from him or the National Labour Party during the campaign.  The previous Labour candidate Oliver Coppard (who I think should be the MP for Sheffield Hallam and I think is a top bloke) got funding and support nationally but I did not.  The efforts of a small group of dedicated grassroots activists working to help me with the campaign I lead won that election for us.  I will always be grateful to those amazing volunteers and all who voted for me.  I don't get many people backing me, helping me and supporting me in my life so it means so much when you do.

One person who constantly snubbed me and treated me less favourably than other people was Jeremy.  He was the biggest shock of that election; not my victory.  He has not been the man I thought he was nor that he appears to be.  To the point that he and his team lied to you all last year.  I was never let back in the Labour Party as they said.  Nor was I ever ordered to go on training or "warned".

They wanted me to act like I was when I was not provided with any details in writing about anything and they wanted me to act like I was guilty of those allegations from the two women from the pub when I had submitted hard evidence and witness details that showed I was not.  So I had no choice but to leave the party I loved.

Within months of my appointment as MP for Sheffield Hallam the smears happened and I fell into a self-destructive nosedive.  During my suspension Sam Matthews his team were consummate professionals but then Jeremy's office took over the case and I had to get a solicitor involved because of disability discrimination in order to get it back on track.

The discrimination made things even worse.  My mental health deteriorated further and I isolated myself from family, friends and constituents.  My actions became erratic and my thoughts became incoherent to the point where most recently I suffered a delusional episode.

In May this year, I sent an email to Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn asking them for help with getting Equality in parliament.  Some MPs were parents who were not getting support and Maternity/Paternity cover and I wasn't entitled to my rights under the Equality Act for adequate support for my disabilities and as such was not provided with the safe and necessary environment for me to speak in the chamber.  This was to serve as my olive branch to Jeremy for the bullying he and his staff had put me through which caused me to leave the party in July last year.

Jeremy and his office then offered me a meeting by letter and by my parents' observations I was visibly excited.  Jeremy’s office then promised to get in touch with me and offer a selection of dates on a certain day but did not fulfil their promise, so I emailed the next day and let my disgust at their disrespect be known.  Jeremy's response was to make false reports about me being a mental health danger around parliament with a delegation of Labour safeguarding representatives and his staff.  I know this because I have it in writing from the parliamentary doctor.

I was not then a mental health risk at that point but such gaslighting ultimately made me one.

About two weeks ago I told a staff member I was in love with her during the aforementioned delusional episode.  I'd been paranoid for weeks that if I was mad like Jeremy and his team said I was then I'd do something like that.  The messages I said that were not of a sober or rational mind and felt like an out of body experience when I sent them but I know that does not excuse my actions because I should not have been self-medicating with a drink to get into that state.  It was my lowest point and I will be apologising personally to her and her family.

I want to become a better person again; like I was.  I feel I’ve become unrecognisable and I want to make amends.  I need treatment for my mental health and rest first though.  I will make a further statement about my future in a few weeks.

Lastly, to my dear, old friend - the Noel to my Liam - Gareth: Thank you for sticking with me like I am sticking with you.  How anyone put up with for this long is a mystery!  That's what mates should do. I wish you a good break, you have earned it.

I am so sorry to everybody for everything.  You have put up with so much; all of you all my staff, my family, friends and constituents.

Thank you so much,

Jared O’Mara MP

O'MARA BACK ONLINE

Jared O'Mara appears to have regained control of his Twitter account.  The Sheffield Hallam MP, renowned for being one of the worst MPs ever to grace the House of Commons, was the focus of an extraordinary resignation last night via his Twitter account.  His former aide, Gareth Arnold, took control of the MP's Twitter account and let off a series of incendiary tweets.  Those tweets are now history, but the MP has not even acknowledged what happened.

Twitter locked Gareth Arnold out of O'Mara's account just before midnight and presumably the MP has now changed the password!  Thank goodness for screen capture.

Arnold was still tweeting incessantly via his own Twitter account into the early hours.  He also gave an interview to the local rag in which he confirmed he'd only worked for O'Mara for eight weeks.  Such a short period of time in which to build up such hatred and resentment of a fellow human being.  O'Mara must be some piece of work!

O'MARA EXPOSED

Short-lived Labour MP Jared O'Mara will probably be hitting the bar hard tonight.  His Twitter account has been taken over by a furious member of staff and the hapless MP appears to be locked out of it, unable to act.  Gareth Arnold used his takeover to fire off a series of tweets that culminate in his resignation.  It's quite astonishing stuff.

Perhaps Jared should have quit Parliament when he quit Labour, instead of prolonging the agony for his constituents, but then we all know why he stayed on.  It's not called a gravy train for nothing.

O'Mara's clearly very bitter former employee goes even further on his own Twitter account and says that a local journalist is on their way over to collect even more juicy details!  "It's going to be a long one" he writes.

THE HOUSE OF SHAME

by Richey Edwards

It is a great irony that a place in which members are referred to as 'honourable' is so seriously lacking in 'honour'.  It no longer comes as a surprise when disgraced members cling to their membership like barnacles on an old boat, or should that be gravy boat?

Last year we had one of the most inept and useless MPs in the history of the Commons suspended by his party, then reinstated before resigning in order to sit as an 'independent'.  Jared O'Mara was surely selected as a paper candidate with no thought given to him actually unseating Nickolarse Clegg, and thereafter proving himself to be way out of his depth when he surprisingly defeated the Lib Dem.  However, the young lad now has access to all the generosity afforded its members by the House of Commons.  So, instead of resigning from a job he cannot do, he chooses to cling to the gravy train and make the most of its perks before he is deposed as the 'honourable' member for Sheffield Hallam at the next election.

What of his predecessor?  Well, if anything exposes how corrupt and self-serving our political elite is, it is the fact that he is now to be known as 'Sir' Nickolarse Clegg.  Knighted in the New Year's Honours List of 2018, just six months after being dumped by his constituents in favour of O'Mara, for 'political and public service'.  He had been an MP for twelve years.  Perhaps it was a pay off for going to bed with the Tories in 2010, either a backhand requirement of the coalition deal or just the political elite looking after one of their own.  We'll never know, but it soured the entire 'honours' system for even its most ardent supporters.  That word again - 'honour'.  Dished out over the years with such random and numerous disregard, with little thought or consideration about what the word means and what it has carried throughout history - 'knight' - the harsh reality is that someone who refuses to have the title bestowed on them possesses more guts and honour than the bunch of politicos, singers and sports people who roll up to collect them.

Now, back to the gravy train of Westminster.  As if we didn't already know how disgraceful the Houses have become in recent years, up pops the fairly anonymous member for Peterborough - Fiona Onasanya.  Perhaps, like Jared, the party never imagined she would defeat the incumbent (the Conservative Stewart Jackson).  Alas, she did.  A little more than twelve months after her surprise victory Onasanya was charged with perverting the course of justice.  She was convicted last month and will be sentenced in the coming weeks.  Is she still an MP?  Of course!

Now perhaps it is a case of individual arrogance and not necessarily a sign of the overall decline of our political system, because this lady does indeed possess it in abundance.  Asides from her aspiration to be Britain's first black Prime Minister (pause for chuckle), she bizarrely compared herself to Christ and his disciples following her conviction.  However, these proceedings followed hot on the heels of the Kate Osamor fiasco, who still reportedly has her convict son on the payroll in Westminster.  Yes, symptomatic of a bigger picture alright.

Yet there are those who empower such shameful and dishonorable individuals.  Owen Jones, for instance, has excused the actions of Osamor's son, instead blaming the 'right wing press' for trying to bring down the MP (and of course, it's because she's black).  No, Owen, she has brought herself down, or she should have done by now.  But doing the honorable thing and falling on one's sword is not the way of Westminster these days.  Today the Peterborough Telegraph went one step further in legitimising such shameful behaviour.

In a move that will surely alienate many of its readers, the Telegraph features the convict as a guest columnist!  Already alarmed at the fact their local MP is a criminal, imagine their dismay when they see said criminal staring back at them from their local rag as a contributor?  Although the editor acknowledges these concerns at the top of the article he doesn't even bother defending his decision.  This is normalising what should be universally condemned.  And in any case who in their right mind is asking the question "I wonder how our disgraced local MP is going to vote on Tuesday"?  According to the Spectator, Onasanya appears to have been absent from the Commons since Christmas, making further mockery of Parliament and the ludicrous editorial decision of the Peterborough Telegraph.

Onasanya will only lose her seat if she is receives a sentence longer than twelve months.  Unlikely, but a custodial sentence of less than a year and she can be ejected by way of a petition.  It's a long drawn out process that frustrated one of our supporters to such a degree that he applied for a petition of his own.  Simon, from Yorkshire, posted a petition on the Downing Street website calling for MPs who are found guilty of crime to be removed from office.  Well, just look at the response he received on being told his petition was being rejected.

The petition made no mention of "Ministers", and it was not about "honours or appointments" or "government policy" either.  Did the recipient even read Simon's petition or is this just another example of the establishment looking after its own?

Unprompted, a customer said to me the other day that they could see no wrong in a modern day Guy Fawkes proceeding to wipe Parliament (and its parasitic inhabitants) off the map.  It's becoming increasingly difficult not to sympathise with such a sentiment.