Labour has covered up sex pest report says activist in rape claim
A LABOUR activist who claimed she had been raped at a party conference has accused the leadership of suppressing a report which found sexual harassment was ‘rife’.
Bex Bailey, who last year waived her anonymity to speak out over the alleged 2011 assault, said the party machine was kicking the issue ‘into the long grass’.
Having read the report – which has still not been published despite being submitted four months ago – Miss Bailey said it found claims of sexual misconduct were being ‘trivialised’ and ‘accommodated’ by senior figures.
And it said some had ‘closed their eyes’ to the problem.
The allegation that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is failing to tackle sexual harassment comes as the party faces criticism for dragging its heels over anti-Semitism.
Miss Bailey has said she was discouraged from reporting the attack at the 2011 Labour conference, saying one senior party official told her that doing so could ‘damage’ her.
She called for changes to the way such cases are handled, including the establishment of an independent complaints process.
The activist spoke out last year at the height of the Westminster sex scandal, which saw the resignation of Michael Fallon as Defence Secretary.
After she made her claims, Labour commissioned a review by Karon Monaghan QC to investigate the way it handled her allegations and to assess and make recommendations about the party’s procedures for handling such complaints.
Miss Bailey told Radio 4’s PM programme, that the party had been given the review in May and that she had had to fight to read it herself, saying Labour had not implemented the suggestions.
Today’s meeting of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee is the only chance to implement an independent complaints process for another year.
Miss Bailey said: ‘Karon Monaghan’s report found that not only is sexual harassment rife in the Labour party…but actually that it’s not being dealt with. The report clearly says that senior members of Labour even have closed their eyes to these issues, they have trivialised sexual harassment, accommodated it.’
She told the PM programme: ‘The party asked for recommendations and was given recommendations, but a number of months on they haven’t been implemented, I don’t think they’ve even been discussed.
‘I spoke out because… I knew there were real problems with sexual harassment that weren’t being resolved.’ The key change she said she and other women wanted, was an independent complaints sys- tem, officials rather than investigating ‘staff and election and adjudicating on themselves and their friends’.
Miss Bailey urged NEC members to read the report before discussing any changes to the rules, adding: ‘ Women in the party have been waiting a really long time for this.’
Labour said it thanked Miss Bailey ‘for her work to improve these procedures and for her incredible bravery’. A spokesman said: ‘Karon Monaghan QC’s report assessed not ‘These fit for which the procedures purpose. party’s we recognise previous have since were procedures, been currently improved. considering The party further is changes in light of Karon Monaghan QC’s report.’ Labour has urged Miss Bailey to involve the police in her complaint but she has said she ‘tried to pretend it hadn’t happened’ and was urged not to report the attack to the authorities at the time.