Theresa  May Announces Special Reforms in Light of Recent Sex Scandal

Jamie Holland-

Downing Street told the eye of media.com “Theresa May has invited various party leaders to come and discuss with her what steps need to be taken [to clamp down] on the matter”. On Wednesday’s PM2, Theresa May did indeed state that all parties would “work together, quickly, to resolve this”. And indeed, hours later, the Prime Minister was true to her word by announcing her action plan to combat sexual harassment in Parliament.

After  a list of MPs allegedly known as sex pests within Parliament began to circulate within the media early in the week, the prime minister announced on Friday that the Conservative Party was immediately setting up a new confidential telephone hotline for people to call to report any breaches.

Compiled by parliamentary aides, secretaries and researchers, a sex pest list consisting of 36 Conservative MPs (6 of which are Cabinet Ministers)  was speculated within a secret WhatsApp chat group used by women working within Parliament. The list was set up to warn one another of the inappropriate tendencies of various MPs. Of all places, Parliament is the last place, sexual harassment is expected to take place.

The allegations within the list stretch from acting inappropriately towards a junior and getting “handsy” in a taxi right up to having sexual relations with a member of the private office and asking a junior member of staff to do strange things and meet in private. Some of the anoynomised Whatsapp messages that have been brought to the surface include, “hidden name groped my arse at a drinks party”, “hidden name needs a new researcher – can’t be a woman!” and “watch out for hidden name at a conference!”. Various MPs have also been named in light of the list coming to attention, such as Damien Green, the Deputy PM, behaving in a sexualised manner towards young women less than half his age and Stephen Crabb, the former cabinet minister, sending sexually explicit messages to a 19 year old cabinet applicant.

The problem with this list, however, is the blurring of boundaries between what could be considered as sexual advances and sexual harassment clouding the overall view of what needs to be done here. However, it appears that Theresa May’s stringent code of conduct is designed to even fend off sexual advances in Parliament by male Mp’s. Fantastic news!

Many of the examples given in the list refer to female, young or junior employees being taken advantage of by their superior with the idea in place that to speak out would be jeopardise their career and, as well as this, the party’s position as a whole. Bex Bailey, a 25 year old Labour activist, reported of being subject to rape in 2011 and was told to refrain from reporting the incident as this could damage Labour’s reputation. She told the BBC, “I was seriously sexually assaulted at a Labour Party event – it wasn’t an MP – but someone who was more senior to me”. She went on to explain that “I was told if I [reported the incident] it might damage me…that shows that we have a serious problem in politics”.

Under the new party rules, harassment is defined as:“Any unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive situation or environment for them. A single incident can amount to harassment.”

 The code also sets out to tackle discrimination, victimisation or bullying within the party.

Sir Michael Fallon resigned as defence secretary over accusations and has also been accused of making “lewd” comments to Cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom.

 Damian Green, the de factor deputy prime minister, is also under investigation for behaving inappropriately towards a young Tory female activist. A charge he denies.

On Thursday evening, MP Kelvin Hopkins was suspended from Labour in the wake of allegations he sent suggestive texts and acted inappropriately towards a young party activist.

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On Friday, Labour Welsh AM Carl Sargeant resigned as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in the Welsh government over “shocking and distressing” allegations made about his personal conduct.

And earlier this week Labour activist Bex Bailey revealed that she was raped during a party event – but was discouraged from reporting the assault.

Labour MP John Mann has demanded that the party ban its MPs from drinking in the Sports and Social bar in parliament, which is popular with young staff members, to crackdown on sexual harassment.

Stories of certain MPs becoming too friendly in taxis or within workplace lifts could perhaps be confused with sexual harassment, however. The list most definitely combines resolved past cases and consensual cases with those of a more harassive nature. Michael Fallon, a ‘Jeckyll and Hyde on booze’, admitted to inappropriately touching the knee of Julia Hartley-Brewer over 15 years ago. Despite resigning from his role yesterday in the wake of the scandal, the married former Defense Secretary was adamant that he apologised to Julia and that this event was a resolved and left firmly in the past. It is also worth noting that Julia herself found the incident “mildly amusing” and nothing more. The case of Brexit Minister Mark Garnier has also come to light, who admitted to calling his secretary ‘sugar t*its’ and asking her to buy him sex toys. Although Garnier has been reported to the Cabinet Office and refrained from denying the claims; he insists that the entire escapade has been taken wholly out of context.

On a pole conducted on The Independent, approximately 78% of  the 2,067 people surveyed agreed that not enough is being done to tackle sexual misconduct within parliament (out of 2067 votes). The Eye of Media has suggestions on what could be done to well and truly tackle the misconduct that has been uncovered within parliament these last 48 hours.

 Might I suggest that a Human Resources department is created with a particular specialism in disciplinary matters, acting as a hub for people to report situations like sexual harassment should they continue to occur after this scandal. This department should be cross-party and should be an entirely neutral body within the House of Commons where people are employed as researchers. These researchers need to be vetted by an independent organisation impartial to party politics. First and foremost, all MPs should sign a code of ethics. This code of ethics would outline the do’s and dont’s of being involved within the party as a representative. This is equal to both men and women and makes it clear to all concerned what is expected.

On all desks there should be a phone number you can contact if you wish to report anything that breaks the code of ethics. This is staffed by the impartial, cross-party body mentioned above.

.Many of the allegations made allegedly occurred in the cheap bar on the parliamentary premises; perhaps  banning guilty parties from there until th resolution of the issue is the way forward.  Such radical action will send home the message that this type of misconduct will not be tolerated in Parliament.  It  will also serve to  stamp out the problem at the direct root of some of the allegations.

Some action also needs to be taken about the number of married MPs misusing their power in a sexualised manner. Is it still the case that in 2017 married politicians are expected to show loyalty to their wives? If caught should they be admonished when caught straying and possible let go from their position to really make the message clear to the public?

Let us also not forget about the suicide of the young party activist causing Grant Schapps, one of the names mentioned on the list, to resign in 2015. Surely this is all parliament needs to truly reform all areas of it’s employment management so a matter of any nature under the victimisation umbrella does not come to light again?

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Theresa May has written to John Bercow to set out a new code of conduct for Tory MPs, following a series of allegations relating to sexual harassment at Westminster.

The prime minister announced on Friday that the Conservative Party was also immediately setting up a new confidential telephone hotline for people to call to report any breaches.

Under the new party rules, harassment is defined as:

The code also sets out to tackle discrimination, victimization or bullying within the party.

Parliament has been rocked by multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by MPs and ministers.

Sir Michael Fallon resigned as defence secretary over accusations and has also been accused of making “lewd” comments to Cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom.

Damian Green, the de factor deputy prime minister, is also currently under investigation for behaving inappropriately towards a young Tory female activist. A charge he denies.

Jeremy Corbyn faces demands to appoint an external independent investigator into claims of sexual abuse inside the Labour Party.

On Thursday evening, MP Kelvin Hopkins was suspended from Labour following allegations he sent suggestive texts and acted inappropriately towards a young party activist.

Corbyn is under pressure to explain why Hopkins was promoted to the shadow cabinet after a complaint had been made about him.

On Friday, Labour Welsh AM Carl Sargeant resigned as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in the Welsh government over “shocking and distressing” allegations made about his personal conduct.

And earlier this week Labour activist Bex Bailey revealed that she was raped during a party event – but was discouraged from reporting the assault.

Labour MP John Mann has demanded that the party ban its MPs from drinking in the Sports and Social bar in parliament, which is popular with young staff members, to crackdown on sexual harassment.