To think Jared O'Mara should resign as an MP

[derxa]

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/23/labour-mp-jared-omara-sheffield-hallam-sorry-girls-aloud-orgy
He made some terrible comments online in the past. Surely people don't change their character that much over time.

Whilst he's not my cup of tea, he has been elected and is paying the ususal Labourt contrite lipservice when caught out.

"O’Mara had initially said he wanted to continue to sit on the committee in order to work to confront misogyny. “I understand why they are offensive and sincerely apologise for my use of such unacceptable language,” the MP said in a statement earlier on Monday, issued through his office. “I made the comments as a young man, at a particularly difficult time in my life, but that is no excuse.”

The MP said his views had changed significantly over the past decade and a half. “I have learned about inequalities of power and how violent language perpetuates them,” he said.

Imagine if he did and there was a by-election and Clegg stood again?

The man is a twat.

I don't find his comments particularly shocking for the age he was 15 years ago. It's not good but it's not exceptional and I doubt he holds those views anymore.

The comments included jokes about having an orgy with members of Girls Aloud, a claim that Michelle McManus had only won Pop Idol “because she was fat”, and a suggestion it would be funny if the jazz star Jamie Cullum were “sodomised with his own piano”.
I just can't imagine ever making these comments at any stage in my life.

I wondered about this, but I think we've come a really long way with technology in the last 15 years. Back then writing crap like this would have been a semi-niche thing, and not something I would have expected to be preserved forever. Flippin heck, thank goodness some of my misdemeanors haven't been recorded for posterity!

So I think give the lad a chance. He wrote some very unpleasant things, if he has learned better then good for him, and at least he has an insight on how to change which could actually be useful. Sometimes it's not that productive having a bunch of people on a committee who all have the same background and ethos.

Also, hmmm politicians - plenty who have done a lot worse than talk shit, I genuinely wonder how many would be left if all the ones who had done/said something questionable were sacked?

Ok say he is sacked does that then mean that anyone who ever says or does anything stupid in their life should be judged on it forever. Do you really think it is fair that you are held accountable to something said 15 years ago? I think a lot of people would be in real trouble if that was the case. I agree what he said at the time was incredibly distasteful but he has apologised and stepped down from certain roles. That's enough in my opinion.

It was 15 yrs ago, whilst the comments were horrible I think someone can definitely change their views in that time, especially when they were 20 at the time.

Silly, immature comments, but we all make mistakes. It smells of part of a broader a witch-hunt to me.

Oddly enough, nobody mentioned Sarah Champion's caution for domestic abuse when she was appointed Shadow Equalities Minister. She was only forced to resign after being accused of writing a racist Sun article far more recently.

We should all be judged by stupid shit we said at 15.

At your next interview OP they should find out what you said and thought when you were 15 and give you a job based on that.

Personally, I think my hairstyle from when I was 15 would prevent me from ever working again.

The websites he posted on were full of teens/ early 20s people who indulged in all sorts of competitive 'banter' and who foolishly neglected to relaise that they were leaving an online trace forever, that might come back to bite them in decades to come. Silly idiots. I'm not saying it is at all defensible, however in the context of these particular online worlds, I can understand why he thought he was just being dead funny, and was courting for 'likes'.

I think it's correct that he has stepped down from the committee (although a shame given he is disabled and an activist for disability issues) but I think the baying for his blood should end now.

I genuinely wonder how many would be left if all the ones who had done/said something questionable were sacked?
That's true but surely the comments betray a deep level of homophobia, misogyny and downright stupidity that cannot be erased.

What O'Mara said was disgusting and I don't excuse it at all. He could have changed significantly, though. I am 56 and my opinions have changed in some ways from 15 years ago, let alone since I was 21. And, as a pp said, I'm thankful I'm not being judged on things I said and did then.

Boris Johnson made (the latest in a long list of ) distasteful remarks at a meeting a few weeks ago and refused to apologise. As far as I know he is still the Foreign Secretary.

Interview on Daily Politics now with someone who was called 'an ugly bitch' by him seven months ago.

I think that people have to be judged on actions as much as words. Some people, especially those in the public eye, are very good with words and say exactly what they mean, or what other people want to hear (to get what we want), whilst others are hopeless and blurt out the first thing that comes into their mind. There's a certain high profile politician over the pond who fits that description. But, what you say and what you do can be very different things. I would like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and judge on the concrete steps that they take/decisions that they make and causes they champion in the case of MPs, because then there is less ambiguity. Also, in the 'fake news' era getting into a he said/she said argument seems so politically charged it's pointless. I am in no way condoning anyone talking shit, but what I'm saying is you can more effectively judge, at a distance, a person's character by what they do more than what they say.

It was 15 years ago and he has apologised. No I don’t think he should resign.

I take it those defending him haven't seen this:

order-order.com/2017/10/24/jared-called-ugly-bitch-8-months-ago/

Of course he should resign and step down from the EQUALITIES committee

Ok so now we ignore all the good he has and might do in future and make him resigm based on one women's account of what he said 8 months ago. As above posters said there are people both politicians and others who have done and said far worse than him but lets ignore that. It really feels a witch hunt.

Of course he should resign and step down from the EQUALITIES committee

He's already done that, hasn't he? The thread is about resigning as an MP.

If he said something like that so recently then I'm not going to defend it - it suggests he has a serious problem with women and it's totally not acceptable.

Having said that, Guido Fawkes is on a mission. First Clive Lewis, now this. I dare say there will be more in the next few days.

The guy is a waste of space. He was parachuted into Sheffield Hallam to sweep up the anti-Clegg student vote, but he barely bothered to show his face during the election campaign and I doubt he really gives a shit about either his constituents or politics. It's incredibly disappointing that such an experienced, intelligent, credible person as Clegg lost to this wanker, but that's politics.
Also, remember that this constituency voted for the completely vile Irvine Patnick for many years- the guy who made up lies about the victims at Hillsborough and peddled them to the gutter press.

So glad this kind of thing didn't exist when i was an idiotic teenager. Not that I would have done stuff like that but at least my misdemeanours are not going to come back and bite me on the arse!

It must be a real slap in the face to Nick Clegg, who lost his seat to him. Whatever your opinion of NC, he would not have come out with anything like that.

It must be a real slap in the face to Nick Clegg, who lost his seat to him. Whatever your opinion of NC, he would not have come out with anything like that. Yes. I have no particular fondness for any party but he must feel a bit raw that he lost to this twat.

He was parachuted into Sheffield Hallam to sweep up the anti-Clegg student vote

I don't know the details of the selection procedure in O'Mara's case but being 'parachuted in' suggests to me a candidate being imposed on to a CLP in a safe seat when they have no local connection.
O'Mara is Sheffield born and lived in the city before being selected. Up to1987 SH has either been Tory and since then Libdem, so hardly a safe seat. As far as I can tell, he was legitimately put forward as the Labour candidate to contest the seat.
Unlike under Blair when someone like Tristram Hunt was definitely parachuted in to a (safe) seat where he didn't have any local ties.

Anyway, if this latest allegation is true - he denies it - I'm not going to defend the bloke.

If people think that misogyny is not part and parcel of momentum then they are in for a big surprise.