SNP STAFF ARE NOT SAFE AT THE MOMENT
Sex pest MP victim wants to rejoin party & change way it deals with complaints
SNP sex pest Patrick Grady’s victim wants to rejoin the party and help improve how it handles sexual harassment complaints.
The man, who was touched inappropriately by the Glasgow North MP when he was 19, said he wanted to make sure staff like him are kept safe. Grady, 42, was found guilty of sexual misconduct after Westminster chiefs investigated a complaint against him. He was found to have touched and stroked the SNP worker’s neck, back and hair in a London bar in 2016. Grady was given a two-day suspension from the Commons and told to make an apology on the floor of the House and to the victim. The complainer, who is now 25 and is signed off sick from his job, complained through the Westminster system after losing faith with the internal SNP processes. He quit the party in disgust but said he would return to act as a champion of reform. He said: “I’d be rejoining with the intention of improving the harassment policy so that staff in the party can be safe. Staff are not safe at the moment.
“I still want to progress the case for independence but I just don’t think we can do that if we have not cleaned out some of the issues in the SNP that linger and have lingered for a very long time.”
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, said yesterday that the silent treatment and “bullying” he faced inside the SNP after he came forward was worse than Grady’s unwanted sexual advances.
He said: “I thought the SNP was a party of equality but after working in Westminster for six or seven years, I can see now that they’re not any different.
“The SNP has made me feel like it’s my fault, even to this day. I’m not given any work to do and I’m now signed off sick.
“My colleagues don’t speak to me, the MPs barely speak to me. I’m cut out and isolated from work. I’m being re-victimised all over again.”
He said of the SNP’s treatment of him: “It is bullying. I’ve been cut out of meetings I normally attend with no explanation.”
The SNP were asked to comment.
I’d be rejoining with intention of improving the harassment policy VICTIM ON WANTING TO BE A CHAMPION OF REFORM IF HE RETURNED TO SNP