A former Labour backbencher has accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘weaponising’ her position as a ‘survivor of domestic abuse’ to try to stop her from rebelling over child benefits.
Apsana Begum claimed party officials threatened to withdraw support given to her over a dispute with her ex-husband if she voted in favour of lifting the two-child cap.
The Poplar and Limehouse MP, 34, made the allegation after she and six other Labour leftwingers were suspended by the party for supporting an SNP measure to extend payments to all children.
She and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Zarah Sultana and Imran Hussain have been kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party over Tuesday night’s Commons rebellion.
Speaking to Times Radio Ms Begum said she was told ‘support for me as a survivor of domestic abuse was contingent on how I was voting’, adding: ‘I’ve just had to run in an election in which my ex-husband was standing against me, and feeling like my experiences were being weaponised against me in this situation during the whipping operation was absolutely shocking and the fact that supporting me regarding my ex-husband was discussed in this context is completely unacceptable.’
However it is understood Labour has received no evidence to back up Ms Begum’s claims. And a party spokesman said: ‘We do not recognise these allegations.’
Apsana Begum claimed party officials threatened to withdraw support given to her over a dispute with her ex-husband if she voted in favour of lifting the two-child cap.
The Poplar and Limehouse MP, 34, made the allegation after she and six other Labour leftwingers were suspended by the party for supporting an SNP measure to extend payments to all children.
Sir Keir Starmer’s (pictured today ) brutal response of suspending the benefits rebels – including prominent left-wingers John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Rebecca Long Bailey – sparked an outcry in his own ranks.
With Sir Keir enjoying an enormous working majority of around 180, the overall result of the vote was never in doubt – with the Commons voted 363 to 103, majority 260, to reject the amendment.
But the premier’s brutal response of suspending the benefits rebels sparked an outcry in his own ranks.
Ms Sultana suggested that Sir Keir had treated the situation like a ‘macho virility test’. She declared she had ‘slept well’ after voting to scrap the limits on handouts for big families.
She later told The News Agents podcast she had not spoken to the part leader in more than two years, and had been ignored when asking for a larger office with space to pray in.
The president of the TUC said the rebels ‘spoke for millions of trade union members and many Labour Party members’.
Jeremy Corbyn and four other independent MPs have written to the suspended MPs asking to work together, while a Corbynite campaign group branded the premier ‘Sir Kid Starver’ on social media.
Despite ministers hinting that they will move to ditch the two-child cap as soon as possible, a further 40 Labour MPs abstained on a King’s Speech amendment tabled by the SNP.
Ms Begum accused her ex-husband of being coercive and controlling when she stood trial for housing fraud in 2021.
She was cleared of three counts of dishonestly failing to disclose information relating to her council housing application after blaming ‘hard-drinking’ former Labour councillor Ehtasham Haque for making bids for council properties behind her back.
She claimed she had twice fled from ‘honour based’ abuse at her family home in Poplar and then from her ‘controlling’ husband in Whitechapel.
However Mr Haque denied the allegations made against him, saying their separation had been ‘amicable’ and that he and Begum had been in each other’s company ‘many times’ since they separated.
In a statement at the time he said: ‘I completely deny that at any stage I behaved inappropriately towards Aspana Begum during our marriage.
‘These allegations come as a surprise to me as they are the first time I have heard Aspana make such accusations against me. Our separation a number of years ago was amicable and I have been in Aspana’s company whilst campaigning for the Labour Party many times since.’
