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| Kate Osamor and her son Ishmael |
Kate '999' Osamor has been told to apologise for her behaviour in relation to her drug dealer son and parliamentary aide Ishmael. The House of Commons' standards commissioner has found that she breached parliamentary rules in 2018. The first breach related to the letter Osamor sent in support of her son after he admitted the drug charges. At the time Labour had claimed that she was not aware of the charges until reporters began asking questions on October 26, 2018. However, it later emerged that Osamor had written to the judge on House of Commons headed paper on October 8, 2018 (see below).
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The standards commissioner didn't find against Osamor for lying about her knowledge or the character reference itself, but said she was wrong to type it on official Commons headed paper. Rules state that parliamentary stationery is
"provided only for the performance of a member’s parliamentary functions". Ironically Osamor had maintained that the Ishmael's drugs conviction
"was and remains a private family matter". The judge disagreed, as did journalists, leading to her second breach of parliamentary standards.
In November 2018 Osamor dialled 999 after a reporter from The Times knocked on the door of her home in Haringey, north London. She had thrown a bucket of water over the journalist and told him to
"F*** off", but he was still outside the property when police arrived. In front of the officers Osamor then told the reporter:
"Don't knock my f****** door. I should have come down here with a f****** bat and smashed your face open". Osamor
reportedly dialled 999 again the following day when reporters returned, leading to accusations that she was wasting police time. A total of six officers were sent to the same property over a 24 hour period.
The standards commissioner found that her behaviour breached MPs' code of conduct and recommended that she issue a written apology to the House.
Osamor resigned from Labour's front bench in December 2018 over the episode.
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