Business leader gags paper

A leading businessman in Britain has been granted an injunction against the Daily Telegraph to prevent it revealing alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff, the newspaper reported yesterday.

The accusations against the businessman, who cannot be identified, would be sure to reignite the #MeToo movement against the mistreatment of women, minorities and others by powerful employers.

#MeToo became a worldwide social media campaign last year after revelations about Harvey Weinstein, the American movie mogul. Like Weinstein, the British businessman used controversial non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence and pay off his alleged victims with “substantial sums”.

The Telegraph spent eight months investigating allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment made against the businessman.

NDAs have been commonly used in business to protect matters of commercial confidentiality but there are concerns they are now being abused to cover up wrongdoing and deter victims of potential crimes from going to police.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has already indicated that she plans to restrict the use of NDAs to prevent abuse, but Parliament has yet to consider changes to the law.

Maria Miller, who chairs the Commons women and equalities committee, said yesterday that it was “shocking” that NDAs were still being used to gag victims and should not be used “where there are accusations of sexual misconduct and wider bullying”.