Jared O’Mara was born in Sheffield in 1981. He has cerebral palsy and is registered disabled.
He studied journalism at university and prior to entering politics was a trustee of a Sheffield based disability charity and a school governor. He stood as a Labour candidate in council elections.
In 2017 he was made prospective parliamentary candidate in Nick Clegg’s seat of Sheffield Hallam by Labour’s National Executive committee, in a move which outraged many in the local party.
He won the seat in a shock upset.
But he was the last MP in the 2017 intake to make a maiden speech and his attendance in Westminister debates was amongst the lowest in Parliament.
He was suspended in July 2017 when sexist and homophobic tweets posted as a 23-year-old surfaced.
He was reinstated in July of the following year but resigned the whip nine days later. He then sat as an independent until the 2019 election.
In September 2019 he made headlines when his former staff took over his Twitter account to label him a ‘selfish, degenerate p***k’.
In his explosive resignation tweets, Gareth Arnold had said: ‘Jared, you are the most disgustingly morally bankrupt person I have ever had the displeasure of working with.
‘You do not care about your constituents. You do not care about anyone but yourself.
‘I cannot and will not defend you and your vile, inexcusable contempt for the people who voted you in. You selfish, degenerate p***k.
‘My fear is that now (as I quit) the rest of the staff will leave and once again you will close your office and stop helping anyone but still take your wages until you have the decency to call a by-election.
‘Leaving constituents desperate for representation again. No matter if they are having their homes taken away, their liberties disgraced or being deported because of your inaction.
‘Sheffield Hallam deserves so much better than you. You have wasted opportunities which people dare not to even dream of.’
In a statement at the time, Mr O’Mara said: ‘I will be taking time out to receive professional help to deal with my mental health and personal issues regarding self-medication.’
He said: ‘I would like to start by apologising to my family, my friends and my constituents. I have not been honest with you about the depths of my depression and self-loathing.
‘When I started this job in 2017 I was a different man: a confident and passionate man that wanted to help others.
‘Sadly, I was unable to do that because very quickly I was bullied and mistreated in a harsh and unforgiving environment and that led me to be weak.’
Mr O’Mara used his statement to blame Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for how he had been treated by the party.
At the time of his resignation from the Labour party, he revealed that he had made three suicide attempts at the height of the furore and described himself as ‘the first autistic MP in our history’.
