A Labour Shadow Cabinet Minister still employs her son as a taxpayer-funded spin doctor despite him being convicted of drug offences and standing down as a local councillor last night.
Ishmael Osamor, 29, was caught with ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, and cannabis worth £2,500 at Dorset’s Bestival music festival in September last year.
The son of Labour’s international development spokesman, Kate Osamor, was convicted at Bournemouth Crown Court and sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.
Ishmael Osamor, 29, (pictured) was caught with ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, and cannabis worth £2,500 at Dorset’s Bestival music festival in September last year.
Labour MP Kate Osamor, pictured right, and her son Ishmael Osamor, who works for her as a spin doctor.
Following the revelations, Osamor resigned from his cabinet post at Haringey Council in north London, but initially kept his position as a councillor. However, last night he stood down.
He said: ‘With great regret I have resigned. I sincerely regret… not informing my family and colleagues of the court case.’
Despite a conviction for serious drugs offences, Osamor appears to have kept his taxpayer-funded job in the Commons where, according to the most recent entry on the MPs’ register of interests he works as his mother’s communications officer.
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, called on Ms Osamor to fire her son. ‘He is clearly not the kind of person who should be working in parliament,’ he told The Times.
Kate Osamor, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, is a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn
‘These particular circumstances bring parliament into disrepute. I would have thought that the MP would move quickly to take her son off the payroll.
‘Parliament is not a rehabilitation process, it is a use of taxpayers’ money and that cannot be forgotten.’
He added: ‘I would have thought that he might want to drop out of the job but the responsibility clearly lies with the MP.’
Osamor attended Bestival with a group of friends and was found by security staff with 30.89g of ecstasy, 7.5g of cocaine, 5.7g of ketamine and 182mg of cannabis.
He pleaded guilty to charges of possessing the drugs with intent to supply on the basis they were for him and his friends and not to be sold for profit.
He was told by a judge he was lucky not to receive a four year jail sentence.
At Bournemouth Crown Court, Judge Stephen Climie sentenced Osamor to a two-year community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and up to 20 rehabilitation activity days, as well as £400 prosecution costs.
His mother is a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s inner circle, and has criticised the Government’s ‘failed war on drugs’.
Last night a spokesman for the MP told the BBC: ‘Ishmael has admitted what he did was wrong and apologised. He is committed to carrying on his work with vulnerable families and the community in north London to help improve their lives.’