Starmer Ignores Abuse of Muslim Labour MP
The Owen Jones Podcast
Owen Jones
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2022
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The treatment of Labour MP Apsana Begum should horrify any decent person. A self-identified survivor of domestic abuse, as journalist Rivkah Brown puts it, 'her mental and physical health ravaged by what she called “a sustained campaign of misogynistic abuse and harassment” culminating in a trigger ballot process overseen by friends of her ex-husband, the MP for Poplar and Limehouse was admitted to A&E and signed off work the next day.'
But when Keir Starmer and Labour general secretary David Evans were emailed by an independent domestic violence advocate working with Refuge - which said "I believe what we are seeing in this current trigger process is a further extension of the abuse that she has already endured" - neither bothered to even reply.
What does this tell us about the treatment of one of the few Muslim female Labour MPs - and if this was an MP on the right of the party, how different would her treatment and the media response be? We are joined by Rivkah Brown who talks us through this truly harrowing and disturbing case.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Do you know how difficult? I saw you appear, you might as well drag you in now. |
| 0:04.4 | Wow, this is such a different experience to be on Tisky. We're really just rolling with the punches. |
| 0:09.5 | Yeah, just sudden. It's chaos here. Tisky, obviously, very slick, organised affair. |
| 0:17.0 | Michael Walker being, I think, slick and organised as how it's sum up, Michael. |
| 0:21.8 | Yeah, good. |
| 0:23.2 | Yeah, Michael went to, we had to marlgate pride in the weekend. |
| 0:29.3 | We both were covered, I think. I think we both look quite fresh now. |
| 0:32.0 | We're doing all right. You're really good. You're better than you ever have, |
| 0:34.5 | Owen. I hear you've got a personal trainer. |
| 0:36.7 | Oh, all right, Riff. What? That'll bring you to the end. |
| 0:40.4 | Oh, I like Joe. He's kind of complimenting you. You look wonderful. |
| 0:44.5 | He's got a personal trainer, but he's like, I do. |
| 0:47.4 | I only only get to the occasional session, actually, just to be fair, I don't generally do. |
| 0:52.2 | I don't know why I'm trying to defend myself. I don't normally do. |
| 0:55.2 | And pro personal trainer, I just got a board one. |
| 0:58.0 | Yeah, well, there we go. But I shouldn't emphasize. I only do very, very occasional sessions. |
| 1:02.8 | It's generally just, as you can see, this is just, this is just my own amateur-ish |
| 1:07.8 | efforts. Anyway, right. What we're talking about is very, very, very, very important. |
| 1:13.1 | We're talking about App Sarnabagan, who is a Labour MP. She's a proud representative and |
| 1:18.4 | a fighter for her community in East London. She's also a survivor of domestic abuse. |
| 1:23.6 | Now, earlier this year, she was signed off sick. That did not stop local officers in a party, |
| 1:28.0 | driving through a trigger ballot process. Partly, we've seen by friends of a former husband. |
... |
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