Claudia Webbe: MP threatened and made numerous unwanted calls to woman, court told

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A serving MP has pleaded not guilty to a charge of harassment and will face a trial in March, a court has heard.

Labour MP Claudia Webbe, who represents Leicester East, threatened and made several unwanted telephone calls to a woman, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on Wednesday afternoon. 

The court that the MP knew or should have known that her actions, which took place between September 2018 and April 2020, amounted to harassment.

Ms Webbe allegedly threatened a  woman named Michelle Merritt on at least two occasions, as well as making numerous unwanted calls, the prosecution told the court. She acknowledges the calls but disputes the content.

After a 20-minute hearing, Ms Webbe was granted unconditional bail.

The defendant accuses police in her local borough of Islington conducting a “flawed” investigation.

A statement released by her legal team said: “Claudia Webbe denies the allegations that have been made against her. This matter has come to court after a flawed and partial investigation by Islington police and Ms Webbe is determined to clear her name.

"Her focus remains, as it always is, on representing the people of Leicester East. As there is a legal case ongoing, she will be making no further comment about this matter.”

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot refused a request from Ms Webbe's lawyer to allow the defendant to sit in the well of the court instead of in the dock during the hearing, saying she “absolutely everyone” sits in the dock and she "didn’t see why there should be an exception in this case”.

Ms Webbe was elected in December 2019, winning the seat previously held by Keith Vaz, after the Labour MP resigned following a scandal involving cocaine and sex workers. Mr Vaz announced his retirement weeks after the Commons Standards Committee recommended he should be handed a six-month suspension for causing “significant damage” to the reputation of the House.

Before entering Commons, Ms Webbe served as a councillor in Islington between 2010 and 2018. She was also elected a member of the Labour party’s National Executive Committee in 2016.

The Leicester East MP was a political adviser to Ken Livingstone when he served as London mayor.

She was also a chair of the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Trident, which was set up in the mid-1990s to tackle gun crime and homicide in black communities.

Following the harassment charge brought in September, Ms Webbe was suspended from the Labour whip pending the outcome of the case.

The MP is due to appear for trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 March 2021.