Labour MP accused of sexual assault fails in anonymity bid

A Labour MP has failed in his bid to stop his name from being revealed in reporting of an upcoming employment tribunal case taken by a woman who has accused him of sexual assault and harassment.

The party was criticised by the woman last year after it restored the whip to Mike Hill, the MP for Hartlepool, following its withdrawal while a Labour inquiry into the allegations were ongoing.

Hill was not present during the preliminary hearing at Central London Employment Tribunal, where his application for anonymity and reporting restrictions was heard. The employment judge, Oliver Segal, declined to make an order to restrict reporting after lawyers for the woman and the Sunday Times newspaper opposed Hill’s application.

The woman, who was supported by trade union representatives, said after the hearing: “I am relieved. I am glad that justice is going to be seen to be done.”

In a statement issued last year through her lawyers, she accused Hill of “fondling her breasts, touching her bottom and pressing against her”. The MP has said that he “completely rejected” the allegations.

Suzanne McKie QC, who is representing the woman, said after the hearing that the application had been resisted principally because Hill had placed the matter in the public domain by speaking to the media.

McKie said there were few other jobs that could be said to be more public than the one performed by members of parliament.

“In other words, everything he does encompasses duties to the public and makes him accountable,” she added.

Speaking last year after the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned alongside Hill during the general election, the woman said she wanted voters in Hartlepool to know that she had not dropped her complaint against Hill, and he had not been exonerated, as some in the constituency believed.

Her complaint about alleged sexual assault, harassment and victimisation was lodged last year with Labour and also with parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Process (ICGS). Hill was suspended from the party.

The woman says she has also made a report to the Metropolitan police.

However, she said that she then asked the party to “park” her complaint until the ICGS investigation was complete, as she had “lost faith” in the process.

She told the Northern Echo in December: “The ICGS investigation is going full speed ahead. Hartlepool voters seem to be under the impression at the moment that these very serious allegations, nothing has come of them, that Mike Hill has been exonerated, but that is absolutely not the case.

“The Labour party should not have reinstated him until this was investigated fully. They are protecting him. They have handled it so badly and completely misconstrued what I said.

“I am really upset that everyone seems to be protecting him. To know that Jeremy Corbyn had his arm around him today.”

Hill, 56, has been the MP for Hartlepool since the 2017 snap election.

A Labour party spokesperson said last year: “The Labour party takes all complaints of sexual harassment extremely seriously, which are fully investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with the party’s rules and procedures.

“We are determined to challenge and overturn sexual harassment and misogyny within politics and across society as a whole. We cannot comment on individual complaints.”