Ambitious young staff can fall prey to powerful employers

AT the heart of the Westminster harassment scandal, which claimed its first ministerial casualty this week, is an imbalance of power between ambitious young staffers and the MPs who can make or break their careers.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon stepped down late on Wednesday amid the deepening row in British politics, admitting his behaviour had “fallen below the high standards required” of his role.

Earlier in the week, he apologised for putting his hand on the knee of a journalist in 2002 – but there was widespread speculation that other allegations were likely to come out.

Two other ministers remain under investigation – one for asking his then secretary to buy him sex toys, and another for allegedly touching the knee of a journalist and activist and then sending her a suggestive text.

Many more cases are rumoured, and in the most serious incident a Labour activist said she had been raped as a teenager by a senior party member – but was advised not to report the assault for fear of harming her career.

In almost all the cases, the alleged perpetrator has been more senior – and in the case of MPs and their own staff, they have directly employed their victim.

“It’s clear that there has been – not just in our trade, it started with the Weinstein affair – this sense that people can use positions of power to demand things from others, and that has got to stop,” Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson told BBC radio.

“It isn’t actually about sex, it’s about power. It is always about power,” she said.

“And we as elected representatives have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

“The dam has broken on this now, and these overwhelmingly maledominated professions, where the boys’ own locker room culture has prevailed and it’s all been a bit of a laugh, has got to stop.”

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for tighter rules on the conduct of MPs.

The parties are also examining their own internal complaints systems -- although some believe that there is often an interest in keeping allegations quiet.

Party whips responsible for enforcing discipline are widely believed to gather information on MPs’ bad behaviour, which they can use as leverage.