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Serious allegations should merit action – but morality doesn’t often win out in politics

Getty/iStock
Getty/iStock

On my first day in Westminster in 2015, a series of desks had been set up for new members of parliament. We were ushered along the line to get our security passes, be given a key for a locker to use until we had an office, told our new email addresses and all that first-day-at-school type of stuff.

One of the desks was the human resources adviser for MPs who explained about the situation with employing staff. When an MP employs a member of staff they are employed by that MP, not by parliament, so we all essentially run small businesses.

I remember vividly having this explained to me, I would be their boss and would be responsible for their rights and welfare. I asked at the time what would happen if they had a complaint against me, where would they go? I received no answer.

I was fresh from working in a rape crisis centre and domestic abuse refuge so I pressed again... who protects staff if their boss or another MP assaults or abuses them? I didn’t get an answer then and, along with others from all political parties, have spent years trying to get a satisfactory response to that question. We have made progress but are not there yet.

However, the cases keep coming. Now we have the arrest of a Conservative MP facing allegations of rape and sexual assault. A very serious matter indeed. Had I been in my previous job working for a charity and such an allegation been made by one member of staff against another, even without an arrest having been made, there is absolutely no doubt that it would have led to an immediate suspension pending investigation.

I can think of a number of times I myself had to suspend people in various jobs, some on grounds that were found to be accurate, others on grounds that would turn out to be unfounded. This would be the same in a school, in a nursery, in a care home, in the police, I would wager in almost most working environments. So why does it seem to be one rule for parliament and a different rule for others?

In my office in Westminster I employ two young women; they are employed by me, they are my responsibility and I have to do my best to guarantee their safety at work. When it came to coronavirus, parliament was swift to act, the safety of our staff was considered. There is no mask I can give them, no amount of handwashing that I can demand that will stop them being assaulted or exploited at work.

As I write this, any MP could very well be sitting in a constituency office alone, when in walks in a young woman who has been suffering abuse and violence and has found herself homeless. This last week I have dealt with adults who were abused in childhood, a man who was suicidal on the doorstep of my office, women living in hotels because of domestic abuse who have nothing to eat, and many other vulnerable people. I have a position of power and they give themselves over to my suggestions very freely. What if my intentions were not good?

The fact is that the Conservative Party, which from what I understand was told about at least some of the alleged abusive behaviours of the accused MP, has decided in all its wisdom that there is nothing it can do. It has not suspended the MP. With an apparent shrug of the shoulders I guess officials are just hoping it’s not true – “Not my problem guv.”

What I can’t understand is why they wouldn’t want to do anything... and then I remember that politics is often about who your mates are. When it comes to morality versus mates – in Westminster, mates usually wins.

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