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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Josh Salisbury

London Labour MP who threatened to smash a reporter’s face with bat made trade envoy

Edmonton MP Kate Osamor - (PA Media)

A London Labour MP who was forced to apologise after threatening to smash a reporter’s face in with a bat has been made a trade envoy to East Africa.

Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill, was among a slew of 32 parliamentarians appointed to trade envoy positions on Tuesday in a bid by ministers to improve growth.

Ms Osamor was forced to apologise for breaching the MPs’ code of conduct in 2020 after using Commons-headed paper for a character reference for her son in a drugs case, who was later given a community order.

She then threatened a reporter who door-stepped her at home over the case, threatening to “smash” his face with a “f*****g bat”.

The 56-year-old also had the Labour Party whip suspended last year after appearing to suggest that Gaza should be remembered as a genocide in a message on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day.

She later apologised for her comments and was reinstated to the party.

London MPs also included on the list of envoys are Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, was named trade envoy to Ghana, David Pinto-Duschinsky, MP for Hendon, who is trade envoy to Switzerland and Lichtenstein, and Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, who is the trade for envoy for Nigeria.

Announcing the appointments, the Department for Business and Trade said each market has "significant potential" for growing UK trade.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "Trade and investment are key to delivering economic growth, the number one mission of this Government and a key part of our Plan for Change.

"That's why I've launched a new team of Trade Envoys, who will use their experience, expertise and knowledge to unlock new markets around the world for British businesses, drumming up investment into the UK and ultimately driving economic growth."

A new trade strategy is due in spring which will prioritise rebuilding ties with the EU and accessing other new markets.

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