One of the MPs in Reading has reacted as her Dad from Bracknell has been suspended from the Labour Party over a “misguided” fundraiser for a former mayor.
Mary Temperton, the leader of Bracknell Forest Council, and Roy Bailey have been suspended from Labour pending an investigation into their conduct.
The suspension comes after both councillors have been accused of conducting a fundraiser for Naheed Ejaz, the mayor of Bracknell Forest for 2023/24.
Last month, her son Diwan Khan was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl and plying her with ecstasy (MDMA), with Ejaz herself convicted of perverting the course of justice by telling Khan in Urdu to hide a phone which had evidence incriminating him.
Councillor Bailey’s daughter, Olivia Bailey, is the Labour MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire.
Reacting to news of the suspension, she said: “Violence against women and girls is utterly abhorrent, and it is right that justice has now been served in this case.
“I fully support the Labour Party’s investigation into my father’s deeply misguided actions.”
Both councillors apologised in a joint statement, apologising for conducting the fundraiser.
They said: “We wholeheartedly apologise for this error in judgement. It was a completely misguided act of attempted charity made without the full facts.
“We have spent decades in public service, and we are both mortified that an attempt at helping someone we believed to be in crisis could be construed as minimising or detracting from these appalling crimes.”
Ejaz served as mayor from May 2023 to April 2024, and a councillor for Great Hollands until September 2024, when she resigned after being arrested on suspicion of helping to cover up the rape her son committed.
They were both convicted of the criminal charges following a trial at Winchester Crown Court, which concluded on February 12.
Both Ejaz and Khan worked in the taxi industry, with Khan’s licence being revoked in January 2024, prior to the rape incident in June 2024.
Ejaz’s licences as a taxi operator and for home-to-school transport were revoked in October of that year.
Mrs Bailey was elected as the first Labour MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire during the 2024 general election.
The constituency covers the western suburbs of Reading and villages in West Berkshire.
Mrs Bailey previously ran for the Reading West constituency during the 2017 general election, where she was beaten by incumbent Conservative MP Alok Sharma, who was knighted in King Charles III’s New Year’s honours in 2023.
