An MP has denied a charge of harassing a woman between 2018 and 2020 and will face a trial in March, a court heard today. Claudia Webbe, 55, is accused of one count of harassment of a woman between 1 September 2018 and 26 April 2020. She pleaded not guilty at Westminster magistrates court, central London, to one charge of harassment. The court heard it related to numerous unwanted telephone calls and threats on at least two occasions. The Metropolitan police said the accusation was made on 25 April this year and relates to an alleged offence in London. Webbe has accused police in her local borough of Islington of conducting a flawed inquiry resulting in the case. A statement released on Wednesday night by her legal team said: “This matter has come to court after a flawed and partial investigation by Islington police and Ms Webbe is determined to clear her name. Her focus remains, as it always is, on representing the people of Leicester East. As there is a legal case ongoing, she will be making no further comment about this matter.” During the hearing, the chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot declined a request from Webbe’s counsel, Dr Courtenay Griffiths QC, that she be allowed to sit in the well of the court – rather than in the dock – for the hearing. The prosecution alleged Webbe made numerous unwanted telephone calls to Michelle Merritt and made threats on at least two occasions. Webbe acknowledges that calls were made but disputes the content. Webbe entered the Commons after December’s general election as a Labour MP, winning the Leicester East seat formerly held by Keith Vaz, the Labour veteran who retired from parliament in the wake of a newspaper sting. She was suspended from the party in September pending the outcome of the case. The MP, who chaired the party’s disputes panel under Jeremy Corbyn, previously examined the work of the Met as the force attempted to tackle gun crime among the black community. As head of the Trident independent advisory group for more than a decade, Webbe would often comment publicly on the police force’s efforts to solve gun-related crimes which disproportionately affected black people. After becoming a political adviser to Ken Livingstone when he was London mayor, she rose to greater public prominence following the election of Corbyn, a close political ally, as Labour leader. A community activist in Islington, north London, she was elected to Labour’s national executive committee in 2016 with the backing of the grassroots group Momentum. Webbe has also been a councillor in Islington since 2010, and was a member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee. Her trial will take place before the same court on 16 March.