Widdecombe: scandal’s a lot of nonsense

THE Westminster sex pest scandal has been mostly ‘a lot of nonsense’, Ann Widdecombe said yesterday.

Calling for a ‘sense of proportionality’, the former Conservative minister said serious cases needed to be examined but raised concerns that many were in fact trivial.

Miss Widdecombe told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘My problem has been with the whole of this chaotic scandal. There are serious complaints, and those I take very seriously indeed. But most of this has been a lot of nonsense.

‘I do not consider a mildly flirtatious remark sexual harassment. And actually, I don’t think that the vast majority of the nation do.’

Asked if she had ever been sexually harassed, Miss Widdecombe said: ‘Absolutely not... for the very obvious reason nobody would have expected to make much progress if they tried.’

She added: ‘I am really tired of being told women are being suppressed, when it takes them years to report something, when they could report it on the spot if they wanted to.

‘What we actually are getting at the moment is reports coming in via third parties, where the women don’t even want to complain. It is ridiculous.’