2017 Westminster sexual scandals

Last updated September 15, 2019

A series of allegations concerning the involvement of British politicians in cases of sexual harassment and assault arose in October and November 2017. Allegations were prompted by discussions among junior staff employed in the UK Parliament at Westminster following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations in Hollywood earlier in October, and the subsequent rise of the #MeToo movement.^[1]^[2]^[3] but spread further to cover all the major political parties, including political figures beyond Westminster.

Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from mild transgressions to sexual abuse or sexual assault.

Sexual assault is an act in which a person intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence which includes rape, groping, child sexual abuse or the torture of the person in a sexual manner.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known internationally as the UK Parliament, British Parliament, or Westminster Parliament, and domestically simply as Parliament or Westminster, is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and the overseas territories. Parliament is bicameral but has three parts, consisting of the Sovereign (Queen-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The two houses meet in the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the inner boroughs of the capital city, London.

Prime Minister Theresa May wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow asking for his assistance in establishing a "house-wide mediation service" supported by a "contractually binding grievance procedure" that would be available for all MPs. May also stated that current House of Commons required urgent reform as they lacked "teeth".^[4]

Theresa Mary May is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. May served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 and has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead since 1997. Ideologically, she identifies herself as a one-nation conservative.

Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a Speaker to lead its proceedings.

John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons since 2009. He concurrently serves as the Member of Parliament for Buckingham. Prior to his election to Speaker, he was a member of the Conservative Party.

A spreadsheet that alleged various sexual improprieties, mixed with consensual acts, by Conservative MPs was published in a redacted form by Guido Fawkes on 30 October 2017.^[5] It detailed complaints against 36 individual MPs; the complaints were said to have been compiled by aides working for the parliamentarians concerned.^[6] The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg described the list as containing "both a mixture of unsavoury allegations, reports of well-known relationships, and some claims that are furiously denied. There is just no way of knowing frankly, how much of it is true".^[7]

Guido Fawkes is a right-wing website published by British-Irish political blogger Paul Staines.

Laura Juliet Kuenssberg is a British journalist. In July 2015 she succeeded Nick Robinson as political editor of BBC News, the first woman to hold the position.

Conservative Party allegations

Michael Fallon, the Secretary of State for Defence, resigned on 1 November 2017 because his behaviour towards women had "fallen short" previously. He told the BBC: "The culture has changed over the years. What might have been acceptable 10, 15 years ago is clearly not acceptable now".^[8] A day earlier, the journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer alleged that he had repeatedly and inappropriately touched her knee during a dinner in 2002.^[9] Hartley-Brewer recalled that after Fallon kept putting his hand on her knee, she "calmly and politely explained to him that, if he did it again, I would punch him in the face". She later downplayed the incident. "No one was remotely upset or distressed", Hartley-Brewer said.^[8]^[10] It was later reported that Fallon had resigned shortly after journalist Jane Merrick had contacted No. 10 with the allegation that Fallon had tried to kiss her in 2003 by lunging at her. Fallon does not deny this happened.^[11]^[12]
Stephen Crabb, the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was reported by The Daily Telegraph (28 October 2017) to have sent sexually suggestive text messages to a young woman he had interviewed for a position in his parliamentary office which he said "basically amount to unfaithfulness".^[13]
Mark Garnier, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Trade, admitted on 29 October 2017 to calling his assistant Caroline Edmonson "sugar tits" and asking her to purchase sex toys for his wife and a constituent in 2010. Garnier claimed that the "sugar tits" comment was a reference to the BBC 3 sitcom Gavin and Stacey and that "It absolutely does not constitute harassment". Edmonson said in the interview with The Mail on Sunday that Garnier "suggested to me in a Commons bar one evening that we went shopping for sex toys in Soho. The next day, he said: 'Come on, let's do it.' He took me to Soho and gave me the money to buy two vibrators. He stood outside the shop while I did". An inquiry in Garnier's behaviour was announced by the Cabinet Office.^[4]^[14]
Dominic Raab and Rory Stewart were both mentioned on the spreadsheet, and both denied claims of impropriety on 1 November 2017. Raab said that claims he had engaged in sexually abusive behaviour or harassed anyone were "false and malicious" and stated that the claims on the spreadsheet "need to be taken seriously". Raab said that for "anonymous individuals to compile and publish, or allow to be published, a list of vague, unsubstantiated and – in my case – false allegations is wrong" and that it was "also a form of harassment and intimidation, although of course I am not suggesting it is the same or equivalent". Stewart was described on the list as having asked his former parliamentary researcher, Sophie Bolsover, to "do odd things". Stewart said the claim was "completely untrue and deeply hurtful. Neither of us have any idea how our names appeared on the list". Bolsover said that "During my time working in parliament, Rory Stewart was never anything other than completely professional and an excellent employer".^[15]

Sir Michael Cathel Fallon is a British politician of the Conservative Party serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks since 1997, having previously served as the MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992. From 2014 to 2017, he was Secretary of State for Defence and a member of the National Security Council. He was previously Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party (2010–2012), Minister of State for Business and Enterprise (2012–2014), Minister of State for Energy (2013–2014), and Minister of State for Portsmouth (2014).

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Defence is a senior official within Her Majesty's Government and head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Julia Hartley-Brewer is an English broadcaster and newspaper columnist. She presented the weekday radio show from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on talk radio station Talkradio from 21 March 2016 to 12 January 2018, and from 6:30 am to 10:00 am since 15 January.

On 4 November 2017, Christopher Pincher, the Comptroller of the Household, was accused of sexual assault by former Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, and former Olympic Rower Alex Story made allegations that Pincher had made 'unwanted sexual advancements' towards him. Later that day Pincher resigned from his position as Comptroller.^[16]
On 5 November 2017, Dan Poulter and Daniel Kawczynski were referred to the Conservative Party's disciplinary panel following allegations of sexual misconduct.^[17]
Damian Green, First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, was accused of sexually harassing behaviour by a Conservative activist, Kate Maltby, and was also separately alleged to have viewed pornography on his work computer. Following an inquiry into these allegations, he resigned from the Cabinet on 20 December 2017.^[18]

Christopher John Pincher is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas in the British Government since 25 July 2019. Prior to this, he served as the Deputy Chief Government Whip and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since 2010.

The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the British royal household, nominally the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department after the Treasurer of the Household. The Comptroller was an ex officio member of the Board of Green Cloth, until that body was abolished in the reform of the local government licensing in 2004. In recent times, a senior government whip has invariably occupied the office. On state occasions the Comptroller carries a white staff of office, as often seen in portraits.

Thomas Francis Blenkinsop is a former British Labour Party politician and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. Blenkinsop did not stand in the 2017 general election.

Labour Party allegations

Bex Bailey, a Labour Party activist and a former member of Labour's National Executive Committee, stated that she was raped in 2011, when she was 19 years old, by someone who was senior to her in the Labour Party. The person was not a member of parliament.^[19] Bailey waived her right to anonymity in 2017 to make the allegation.^[20] Bailey did not initially report the rape to the police or within the Labour Party, but two years later she told a senior party official. She said that "It took me a while to summon up the courage to tell anyone in the party ... But when I did, I told a senior member of staff, who told me ... or it was suggested to me that I not report it, I was told that if I did it might damage me". After Bailey described the rape and subsequent events in a BBC Radio 4 interview on 31 October 2017,^[21] the Labour Party announced an independent investigation into her allegations; Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party said that "There will be no tolerance in the Labour Party for sexism, harassment or abuse ... Whatever it takes, we are absolutely committed to rooting it out".^[20]
Kelvin Hopkins, the Labour MP for Luton North, was suspended by his party on 2 November 2017 following a report from The Daily Telegraph of sexual harassment allegations made by a Labour activist, Ava Etemadzadeh, which included inappropriate text messages and making unwanted physical contact at a political event. Etemadzadeh first reported the incidents to party official two years earlier.^[22] Labour's Chief Whip at the time, Rosie Winterton, is reported to have reprimanded Hopkins.^[23] Hopkins denies the allegations of inappropriate conduct.^[24] On 10 November 2017 fellow Labour MP Kerry McCarthy released correspondence over a 20 year period from Hopkins which she stated were "unwanted attention" and "upsetting"; these would also be given to the Labour party inquiry as evidence of Hopkins' behaviour. They had first come into contact when both were active in the Luton Labour Party during the 1990s.^[25]^[26]
Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, was accused by a 39-year-old woman of groping her at Momentum's "World Transformed" event.^[27] In response to the accusation, Lewis said he was "pretty taken aback" by the accusation and "completely" and "categorically" denied the claim.^[28] On 12 December 2017 Lewis was cleared by Labour's National Executive Committee sexual harassment panel^[29]
Ivan Lewis, the Labour MP for Bury South, was accused of sexually harassing a 19-year old at a Labour Party event. He denied the claim on 4 November 2017, but apologised for behaviour that 'may have made women feel uncomfortable.^[30] As of 23 November 2017, he had been suspended from the Labour Party.^[31]
David Prescott, an aide of Jeremy Corbyn and son of the former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, was suspended from his work for the Labour Party amid ongoing allegations. Prescott had been credited with improving Corbyn's image.^[32] Details of the allegations were not released, and he was reinstated later in November.^[33]
On 26 November 2017, The Sunday Times reported that an unnamed Labour Party staff member based at its London headquarters in Victoria had died suddenly while on suspension and during an investigation into pornographic images that were found on his computer.^[34]^[35]

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the governing body of the UK Labour Party, setting the overall strategic direction of the party and policy development.

BBC Radio 4 is a radio station owned and operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is Gwyneth Williams, and the station is part of BBC Radio and the BBC Radio department. The station is broadcast from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. On 21 January 2019 Williams announced she was quitting the role. There are no details of when or who will be her replacement.

Resulting actions

On 6 November 2017, a meeting took place between leaders of the political parties at Westminster. Theresa May proposed that a new system be set up for Westminster employees, with a hotline for abuse to be reported, and an independent grievance process. Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable described the proposals as "the right first cross-party steps", and Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said that the meeting had been "broadly constructive and helpful" but that "we did not get into much of the detail".^[36]

Political scandals beyond Westminster

Scotland

Mark McDonald, the Scottish National Party MSP for Aberdeen Donside, resigned as Minister for Childcare and Early Years in the Scottish Parliament on 4 November 2017, after inappropriate sexual behaviour.^[37]
On 5 November 2017, Willie Coffey, the Scottish National Party MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, was accused by a female civil servant of "inappropriate language" and "unsolicited attention"^[38] but denies any wrongdoing.^[39]
Monica Lennon, the Scottish Labour Party MSP for Central Scotland, said on 5 November 2017 that she had been sexually assaulted by one of her colleagues within the Labour Party.^[40]
Alex Salmond former First Minister of Scotland resigned from the SNP amid allegations of sexual misconduct while he was First Minister. In a statement he said that he wanted to avoid internal division within the party and intended to apply to rejoin the SNP once he had an opportunity to clear his name.^[41] On 24 January 2019, Salmond was arrested by police and charged with attempted rape.^[42]

Wales

On 3 November 2017, Carl Sargeant, the Welsh Labour AM for Alyn and Deeside, was sacked ^[43] as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children after being suspended from the Labour Party following allegations about his behaviour.^[44] On 7 November 2017, he was reported to have died, it is understood that he took his own life.^[45] On 9 November 2017, Alun Michael, Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, asked Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, to set out the allegations made against Carl Sargeant.^[46]

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References

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[ft-20171030-1] Payne, Sebastian (30 October 2017). "Will sexual harassment in Westminster be as big as MPs expenses?". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[guardian-20171031-2] Stewart, Heather (31 October 2017). "Michael Fallon sorry for 'unwelcome' behaviour against female journalist". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[sky-20171104-3] Cohen, Tamara (4 November 2017). "Sex pest scandal engulfing Westminster 'worse than expenses'". Sky News. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[Guard29OctTory-4] 1 2 Heather Stewart and Haroon Siddique (29 October 2017). "Tory minister faces inquiry after getting female assistant to buy sex toys". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[5] "Tory Aides' Spreadsheet Names 36 Sex Pest MPs". Guido Fawkes . 29 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[BBC30Oct-6] "'Parliament sex pest row' as PM vows to take action". BBC News. 1 November 2017. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[BBC31OctLaura-7] "Calls for change in Westminster culture". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[Guard1Nov-8] 1 2 Stewart, Heather; Mason, Rowena (1 November 2017). "Michael Fallon quits as defence secretary, saying his behaviour has 'fallen short'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[9] Rayner, Gordon (31 October 2017). "Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon admits touching female radio presenter's little finger at a dinner". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[10] "Michael Fallon 'apologised for touching journalist's knee'". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[11] Doward, Jamie (4 November 2017). "Revealed: why Michael Fallon was forced to quit as defence secretary". The Observer. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[12] Merrick, Jane (4 November 2017). "I won't keep my silence: Michael Fallon lunged at me after our lunch". The Observer. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[13] Hughes, Laura (28 October 2017). "Stephen Crabb sent young woman sexually explicit messages after rejecting her application for role in his office". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.

[Guard29OctMay-14] Stewart, Heather; Walker, Peter (30 October 2017). "Theresa May to crack down as sex harassment allegations grow". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[Guard1NovHit-15] Walker, Peter (1 November 2017). "Tory ministers hit out at 'malicious' sexual abuse claims against MPs". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[16] "Tory MP Chris Pincher 'tried to untuck the shirt of Olympic rower'". Mail Online. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[17] "Three Conservative MPs referred to party's disciplinary panel just days after it was set up". The Independent. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[Rayner-18] Rayner, Gordon; Hope, Christopher (20 December 2017). "Theresa May's effective deputy Damian Green quits over pornography cover-up". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

[Sky30Oct-19] Greg Heffer (1 November 2017). "Labour investigate activist Bex Bailey's rape allegation". Sky News. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[BBC31OctLab-20] 1 2 "Labour activist 'warned' about pursuing rape claim". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

[bbc-20171031-21] "Bex Bailey: I was raped at a Labour Party event in 2011". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[22] Hughes, Laura; Newell, Claire (2 November 2017). "Exclusive: Labour MP suspended after alleged victim tells The Telegraph he sexually harassed her". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017.

[23] Stewart, Heather (2 November 2017). "Labour suspends Kelvin Hopkins over allegations of sexual misconduct". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

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v t e Weinstein effect
Cases	Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations U.S. political sexual scandals (2017–18) Westminster sexual scandals
Effects	Me Too movement India Shitty Media Men Mosque Me Too Time's Up movement Him Too movement
Related	Sexual abuse in Hollywood Casting couch Believe women