Tarbuck: If we want to tackle bad behaviour, start looking at hen parties!
After the storm over Presidents Club gala, one guest wades in...
‘It has to be both ways’
COMEDIAN Jimmy Tarbuck has hit back at criticism of the controversial Presidents Club gala, saying those looking for bad behaviour should scrutinise hen parties instead.
The 77-year-old former game show host said he ‘never saw anything untoward’ when he proposed a toast at the now-defunct charity’s scandalhit fundraiser.
He spoke out after claims that young women were groped at this year’s event at The Dorchester hotel in Mayfair.
Instead, Mr Tarbuck hit out at the lewd antics of drunken young women.
He told Sky News: ‘Tell them to go to London airport and see hen parties going on if they want to see bad behaviour.’
‘It has to be both ways, it can’t be all men that they are including.
‘I hear on good report hen parties might be banned on some airlines. They should look into that,’ he added.
Speaking from his mansion in Surrey, Mr Tarbuck added: ‘Were there a lot of pretty girls there? Of course there were, there were over 100 of them, all looking nice, but I never saw, I never heard any bad language or insinuations to them and I left after I had done my bit.’
Asked if there had been ‘an overreaction’ to revelations about the all- male event, Mr Tarbuck said: ‘I can’t see how sick children should suffer from it.’
He was referring to the decision by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to hand back half a million pounds in donations raised at the shamed event.
His comments came as the Attorney General warned that criminal offences may have been committed at the Presidents Club dinner.
The Government’s chief legal adviser Jeremy Wright said he was ‘shocked’ by revelations of what went on at the charity fundraiser, including alleged groping of hostesses – some aged just 18.
He told the Financial Times: ‘What happened on that particular evening was unacceptable. From what I’ve heard described it’s quite possible that criminal offences were committed.’
It also emerged that police investigated an alleged sexual assault at last year’s event, 12 months before the sleaze culture at the charity dinner was exposed.
But the Metropolitan Police said their inquiries ended as the alleged victim said she did not want to take the complaint any further.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘We can confirm that on 22 January 2017 police received a third-party allegation of sexual assault of a female at a hotel on Park Lane on 21 January 2017. Police contacted the alleged victim who advised that she did not wish to proceed with the allegation. The investigation was discontinued.’
Asked if victims could fear reporting sexual assaults because they signed non-disclosure agreements, Mr Wright told the FT: ‘Those who were victims should feel able to come forward, report what happened and if a crime was committed it should be investigated and if necessary prosecuted.’
Labour MP Jess Phillips yesterday urged guests at the event to report any inappropriate behaviour, posting on Twitter: ‘To the men who were at the #PresidentsClub if you saw groping and were appalled I give you a nudge to contact the police and give the names and details to the police.’
Bank of England governor Mark Carney also weighed in, saying he was ‘utterly dismayed’ by revelations that hostesses had allegedly been groped at the event attended by some of the most powerful men in Britain.
It was also claimed that prostitutes had attended the charity gala, attended by 360 men, and some women had reportedly been offered thousands for sex.
IS the time approaching when the world’s liberal elites will have to reassess their view of Donald Trump as the devil incarnate?
Don’t get the Mail wrong. We stand fully by our reservations about the narcissistic, dangerously volatile President, some of whose early-morning Tweets have been at best embarrassing, at worst frankly crass.
But as even America’s politically correct papers are starting to admit ( albeit grudgingly), Mr Trump’s sweeping tax reforms appear to have wrought a minor economic miracle in the US – giving the rest of the world a boost into the bargain.
A year into his presidency, investment is flooding back into his country, business confidence is soaring and firms such as Walmart, Disney, Apple and Starbucks are passing on tax savings to the humblest of employees, with hefty pay rises all round.
Could it be Mr Trump’s supporters among America’s poor – sneeringly dismissed by Hillary Clinton as a ‘basket of deplorables’ – were not so dumb after all to put their trust in this eccentric businessman?
Even on the diplomatic stage, he has shown himself capable of tact, restraint and a surprising degree of humility.
Take his generous tributes in Davos to Theresa May and Britain – all the more remarkable, given the torrents of abuse he has endured from the BBC and the British Left (though how depressing that he later gave them more ammunition by launching an intemperate onslaught on the media).
Yesterday, he even declared himself ready to apologise for retweeting a post by the obnoxious and racist Britain First, frankly admitting he knew nothing about the group (but then how many of his attackers in the UK had heard of it either?)
Indeed, everything is now set fair for a presidential visit later this year, which this paper hopes will open an exciting chapter in our trading relationship with the US.
Of course, Left-wing virtue-signallers will howl, continuing to put the worst possible spin on everything Mr Trump says or does. Paradoxically, they include many who hailed his visit to France as a triumph for that darling of the elites, Emmanuel Macron.
For our part, the Mail will always welcome the leader of our most powerful ally in war and peace, whoever he or she may be. As for the man himself, we will judge him by his deeds in office – not merely his tweets.