Historical complaints of sexual harassment by MPs to be investigated

Historical cases of sexual harassment and bullying in Parliament will be investigated after Andrea Leadsom demanded victims should not be excluded from a new code of conduct.

The Telegraph can reveal that anyone who has been affected by poor behaviour during their time in Westminster will be helped to take their claim to police, their party or the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

A cross-party committee charged with designing a new complaints regime reluctantly concluded that it could not examine historical allegations for legal reasons.

But it decided it would be "unfair for anyone to be out of options", prompting Ms Leadsom and others to thrash out a last-minute deal to create a separate system specialising in old complaints.

The plans, which will be published in a report on Tuesday, came amid fears the new regime will be ineffective after it emerged MPs will not necessarily be named for the first transgression they make.

But a source close to the process said the Standards Commissioner will be free to decide whether or not to make an MP's disciplinary process public and a two-strikes policy will operate where the MP would be named publicly for any second complaint.

The plans were drawn up by by the committee, which is chaired by Ms Leadsom, the Commons Leader, after widespread allegations of sexual harassment. MPs will vote on them on Thursday.

There are currently no formal disciplinary procedures for MPs and no independent channels for staff to raise complaints, with discipline handled by their parties.

After taking legal advice from a QC, the group concluded that a legal principle should be respected that people should not be punished for actions that were not a crime when they were conducted.

Insiders said it was "incredibly unfortunate" that MPs' current code of conduct is silent on bullying and harrassment.

The committee concluded that applying new sanctions retrospectively would leave the new complaints procedure open to "significant legal challenge". 

However, the MPs felt strongly that it was never acceptable to sexually harass or bully someone, so a separate system should be created for historical cases.

Anyone with an old complaint will be able to call a helpline for personalised guidance on their options.

Victims will be encouraged and supported to take their allegations to the police, their parties or the parliamentary commissioner.

Previous examples and evidence of wrongdoing that occurred before 2017 will also be considered when weighing up new complaints.

The report will feature a series of case studies to help victims understand what help is available and the new system will be reviewed after six months.