The Webbe Weaves On

With the expulsion of Claudia Webbe, Labour now has fewer than 200 MPs. If she won her appeal, then she should tell the party where to stick any suggestion of readmission.

But you cannot be acquitted of harassment. Two solicitors and a barrister have confirmed that to me, and I was told in writing that I would have no lawyer if I tried to plead not guilty. The crime consists in having made the complainant feel harassed. If she says that she was, then she was. That was literally the only evidence presented against Webbe. She was convicted.

What matters is to be well enough connected that the Crown Prosecution Service will take up the case. That is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer. In any case, Magistrates rarely acquit, because that was not why they became Magistrates, and a District Judge is a salaried employee of the same State that brings the prosecution, sitting alone both to determine guilt and then to pass sentence. A District Judge, and the Chief one at that, for a single charge of harassment? Again, that is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer.

Yesterday's suspended sentence has been handed down in order to buy Starmer some time at Leicester East, where people are starting to wonder, or are preparing to say out loud, who funded Keith Vaz's two staffed offices. Those have had queues down the street since Webbe's trial began, on the assumption that he was already the MP again, bar the formality of a by-election.

George Galloway's more or less declared intention to contest that by-election has given Starmer and Vaz cause to pause. George and his young children have had a death threat, ostensibly from an extreme Scottish Nationalist, and he has reported it to the Police, who are taking no action. The criminal justice-industrial complex really does want Starmer as Prime Minister very, very badly. It is more than happy to frighten a 67-year-old out of electoral politics once and for all rather than see him embarrass its standard-bearer. In fact, the man who made Killing Kelly knows that the Labour Right is capable of a lot worse than merely putting the frighteners on.

Meanwhile, Webbe is on borrowed time. Once Labour was good to go at Leicester East, then she will be banged up for breach. All that they would need would be another complaint of harassment. You cannot be acquitted of harassment. Two solicitors and a barrister have confirmed that to me, and I was told in writing that I would have no lawyer if I tried to plead not guilty. The crime consists in having made the complainant feel harassed. If she says that she was, then she was. That was literally the only evidence presented against Webbe. She was convicted. Well within the next two years, she will be convicted again, and therefore imprisoned. What matters is to be well enough connected that the Crown Prosecution Service will take up the case. That is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer.