MP claims reporter said bets were being taken on suicide
LABOUR MP Chris Bryant said a newspaper reporter told him bets were being taken on his suicide, following revelations about his private life.
The Rhondda MP made the claim in the House of Commons last week, during a debate on a new system to provide advice and action on bullying and harassment in Parliament.
The former minister said a cross-party working group on the issue is “heavily overloaded with MPs” before noting there are no lesbian or gay members, with specific issues which could arise including about the potential outing of people while making allegations.
Mr Bryant added: “My biggest anxiety of all is you have to justice for both sides.
“If we just have trial by the newspapers or trial by front page that is not justice for the people who feel they have been abused and want to make allegations and nor is it justice for those at the other end.
“I remember in 2003 a journalist from the Mail on Sunday coming up to me in Strangers bar and saying ‘We’re all taking bets on when you will commit suicide, I hope it’ll be before Christmas.’”
He later tweeted that he had “misspoke” and it was a reporter from the Daily Mail rather than the Mail on Sunday.
He has previously spoken in the Commons about the matter, saying in 2014 that the question had been posed after it was revealed he had been using gay dating website Gaydar.
The Daily Mail yesterday hit back at the allegation, describing it as a “scurrilous smear”.
A spokesman for the newspaper said: “It is utterly disgraceful that Mr Bryant should use parliamentary privilege to repeat an allegation that was rejected by the Leveson Inquiry. He should withdraw it immediately.”
Earlier, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom told MPs that proposals for a new independent complaints and grievance system should be published before MPs break for Christmas.
She said many staff members had expressed a need for HR training and better support for staff, and a new system would take into account “the specific needs of Parliament” and go beyond just mediation.
“The working group has agreed that a new system should provide support, advice and action on a wide spectrum of complaints around bullying and harassment,” added.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure the solution is transparent, fair and effective.
“And this fairness must also apply to MPs and peers, because we do recognise that right across both Houses, we have many model employers who genuinely care about and look after their staff extremely well.
“We’re working to a tight timeframe, but we have all acknowledged that it’s right that we address this issue with urgency.”
Ms Leadsom said faceto-face counselling would be available in Parliament from Monday.
The existing complaints helpline has also been rolled out to staff in the Lords, she added.
Several MPs stressed the need for a specific sexual harassment policy to be established. she