Ishmael Osamor and his mother, Kate, who is in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s senior frontbenchers was accused last night of misleading the public over her knowledge of her son’s conviction for drug offences.

Kate Osamor, 50, the shadow international development secretary, has continued to employ her son in her parliamentary office despite his guilty pleas in September.

The Labour Party had previously claimed that she knew nothing about her son’s case until after he was given a community sentence on October 19.

It can be disclosed that she was not only aware of the case but had written to the trial judge asking for leniency for Ishmael Osamor, 29, and stressing his remorse. He was caught with drugs worth £2,500 at the Bestival music festival in Dorset last year.

At her home last night