Labour's Kate Osamor resigns as shadow minister

Kate Osamor has resigned from her post as shadow secretary of state for international development

Labour frontbencher Kate Osamor has quit her role to support her family, after allegedly throwing a bucket of water at a newspaper journalist.

It comes weeks after she was reported to Parliament's standards watchdog.

Earlier in the year, the Edmonton MP's son, Ishmael - then a Haringey councillor - was convicted of having £2,500-worth of drugs at a festival.

The Times newspaper says its reporter was visiting her home to ask questions about the case.

Her resignation follows allegations of misconduct made by the newspaper, which says she verbally abused its reporter on Friday night before throwing water over him, then calling the police.

The reporter had visited the MP's home seeking a response to ongoing questions surrounding Ms Osamor's son's conviction for drug offences, the newspaper said.

In a statement on Twitter, the Edmonton MP said it had been a "difficult time".

Ishmael Osamor pleaded guilty in September to four charges of drug possession at the Bestival festival in Dorset, but prosecutors accepted he wasn't planning to sell the drugs.

According to The Times, Ms Osamor, who was Labour's shadow secretary of state for international development, said she did not know about the case until after sentencing in October.

But the newspaper reports that the MP wrote a letter to the trial judge asking for leniency and stressing her son's remorse.

The BBC has approached Ms Osamor for comment on the allegations made by the newspaper.

Ishmael Osamor resigned from Haringey Council after being caught with a large amount of drugs

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thanked Ms Osamor, who was elected in 2015, for bringing "a new dimension" to her role as a shadow minister "by committing Labour to tackling global inequality as well as poverty".

Dan Carden, MP for Liverpool Walton, has been appointed acting shadow secretary of state for international development.

Ms Osamor's "integrity" was questioned when she continued to employ her son as a communications officer after he resigned as a local councillor.

Last month a Tory MP reported her to Parliament's standards watchdog over her son's continued employment in her Westminster office as a researcher.

Ishmael Osamor was caught trying to take ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis into the festival in August 2017 - nine months before he was elected as a councillor for Haringey.

Following his conviction he resigned from his cabinet post on the council, and later resigned as a councillor following pressure from opposition groups.