Left-wing Muslim MP battling serious health problems has faced both domestic abuse and horrific treatment by local and national party, but Starmer still hasn’t reached out – but finds time to chat with official who knew Begum was ill but pushed on with trigger process. Read below his track record as Labour leader toward domestic violence victims and Muslim women
Left-wing Muslim MP for Poplar and Limehouse in London Apsana Begum has suffered horrific abuse and persecution from the local and national Labour party as the right has manoeuvred to remove her, leading to a malicious and failed attempt to jail her and bullying of constituents in an effort to unseat her as the party’s candidate, leading an official domestic violence advocate to warn the party that it was acting as an extension of the domestic violence she had suffered. Ms Begum told an audience gathered in Liverpool this week that Keir Starmer had been well aware of what was going on but that his faction had briefed the media against her rather than step in to help.
Starmer, meanwhile, has remained silent – not even tweeting to congratulate Begum on her acquittal in the malicious court case, although he found time to tweet about athletics and to congratulate Boris Johnson on yet another pregnancy.
And Skwawkbox understands that at no point has Mr Starmer bothered even to reach out to Apsana Begum – but he did find time to talk to the person who oversaw the process intended to remove her, Asra Anjum, the Procedures Secretary for the trigger ballot.
Ms Anjum, who is said by locals to be close to the clique surrounding Begum’s ex-husband and publicly gave him partial credit for her election as constituency party (CLP) secretary, was a social worker who was found by Social Work England to have dishonestly recorded social work visits that she never made. According to the same organisation, she is no longer registered to practise after her registration lapsed upon her failure to complete the required ‘Continuous Professional Development’.
Ms Anjum remains a Labour party officer – and Starmer was happy to pose for a series of pictures with her at the party’s conference in Liverpool this week, as a tweet by Ms Anjum boasted:
As procedures secretary, a message from Asra Anjum to Apsana Begum sent on 19 June last year proves that she was aware of Begum’s illness – and ploughed on with the trigger process regardless. The message read:
Dear Apsana,
I’m sorry to hear you’re unwell.
Kindly be informed that on review of our affiliation records we understand that ASLEF, Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Irish Society are affiliated to our CLP, Poplar and Limehouse.
The secretaries for the above respective unions have been notified of the trigger ballot process. The requisite paperwork along with the ballot has been emailed.
Apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused.
I wish you speedy recovery and good health.
The Al Jazeera ‘Labour Files’ programme broadcast over the past week – and resolutely ignored by the rest of the so-called ‘mainstream’ media – proved the horrific extent of anti-Black and anti-Muslim racism of the Labour right and the lengths to which the party will go to victimise and remove those whom the ruling faction finds inconvenient.
In addition, a series of exclusives by Skwawkbox and the tribunal case brought by whistleblower Elaina Cohen against right-wing MP Khalid Mahmood demonstrated that Keir Starmer and Labour general secretary David Evans were repeatedly informed of Ms Cohen’s warnings that domestic violence victims were being criminally and horrifically abused by Mahmood’s employee and alleged loved – yet did nothing, leaving Mahmood on Starmer’s front bench and used parliamentary resources to pursue Cohen before sacking her unfairly. She turned down a six-figure settlement offer in order to pursue the case and ensure the abuse was on record.
Despite the gravity of the abuse allegations, which were accepted by Mahmood in the tribunal case without challenge, that scandal too has been almost entirely ignored by the ‘MSM’ and Keir Starmer has never answered requests for comment and continues to claim to be a champion of domestic violence victims – like Apsana Begum and the women Elaina Cohen sought to protect.
Asra Anjum was approached for comment.
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