... as top Labour MP is accused of ‘slapping’ party member’s bottom
A LABOUR shadow minister yesterday denied ‘slapping’ a female party member’s bottom and commenting on her breasts after she underwent a mastectomy.
Transport spokesman Karl Turner was accused of sexually harassing the party member as she walked through his constituency office in 2015.
The MP for Hull East was said to have told the woman, who had undergone a double mastectomy to treat her cancer, that she ‘shouldn’t have got rid of her real t**s’.
Another MP confirmed that they had been made aware of alleged unprofessional behaviour by Mr Turner on a number of occasions, the Financial Times reported.
One witness was said to have made a complaint to the Labour Party on behalf of the woman in December last year. But she was allegedly told that the party needed to receive the complaint directly from the individual who experienced the behaviour.
The anonymous witness alleges that when Mr Turner was challenged after he slapped the Labour member’s bottom, he responded with something like ‘I couldn’t help myself’.
Two witnesses reportedly said they heard Mr Turner tell the woman, who had recently recovered from breast cancer, that she ‘shouldn’t have got rid of her real t**s because they were great’. He allegedly added: ‘The ones you’ve got now are nice enough.’ He is said to have first made such comments in 2014 and repeated them on other occasions. Other witnesses claimed they heard Mr Turner make remarks about the woman’s ‘nice arse’.
The paper said it had approached the woman, who confirmed the alleged incidents. Mr Turner denied all the allegations and questioned the truthfulness of the paper’s sources. He also said he had not received any such complaints, describing the claims as ‘smears’.
Another alleged witness, said by two people to have been present during the alleged slapping incident and to have challenged the behaviour, denied that the event occurred.
It comes as two Labour MPs, Ivan Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins, have been referred to Labour’s disciplinary committee following allegations of sexual harassment. Both men have denied the allegations.
A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘The party takes all complaints of sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination extremely seriously. We ask that anyone with a complaint comes forward so that allegations can be fully investigated.’