May ‘will sack any sex pest ministers’
THERESA MAY will sack Cabinet ministers if they are proven to be sex pests, The Daily Telegraph understands, as a list of 13 MPS accused of harassment circulated in Westminster.
The Prime Minister wrote to Commons Speaker, John Bercow, yesterday demanding tough new rules to govern MPS’ behaviour, saying the problem “cannot be tolerated any longer”.
Last night, it was claimed Conservative Party staff have complied a list of 36 current Tory MPS against whom allegations of inappropriate behaviour have been made, including affairs with junior colleagues, being “handsy” with women, and using prostitutes.
Mrs May also asked the Cabinet Office to investigate the conduct of Mark Garnier, the international trade minister who admitted calling his secretary “sugar t--s” and sending her to buy sex toys for him.
Stephen Crabb, the former cabinet minister, has admitted sending “explicit” messages to a 19-year-old woman after he interviewed her for a job.
A series of lurid allegations have also surfaced involving seven other unnamed Tories, prompting fears that the Government could be destabilised if the scandal grows. They include:
♦a current Cabinet minister who is alleged to have put his hand on a female journalist’s thigh and said: “God, I love those t--s”;
♦a second Cabinet minister who is alleged to have had an affair with a junior female aide who is now also an MP;
♦a former Tory minister who allegedly propositioned his secretary by asking her to “come and feel the length of my ----”;
♦an MP who made a member of staff feel “uncomfortable” by repeatedly touching them and making “intimidating” comments about their clothing.
The names of the Cabinet ministers under suspicion have been an open secret in Westminster for days, but their accusers have chosen not to go public.
Government sources insisted yesterday that Mrs May would “do what is right” if Tory MPS were found to be sex pests, even if it endangers the slender majority she commands.
One Whitehall source said: “Our advice to people has always been to raise these matters with the police and also to inform the party. The majority would not be a consideration in dealing with this, it’s important to do the right thing.”
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, told ITV’S Peston on Sunday that if Mrs May decided to sack ministers found to have harassed women: “I would support her because I think she has very good judgment on this kind of thing, and she has a long track record of standing up for women’s rights.”
He said of Mr Garnier: “These stories, if they are true, are obviously totally unacceptable and the Cabinet Office will be conducting an investigation as to whether there has been a breach of ministerial code.”
Downing Street denied a report that the PM receives weekly updates from party whips about MPS’ sexual misdemeanours. Sources said Mrs May was unaware of the allegations against her MPS until they surfaced in the press.
Three Labour MPS and an MP from another party have also been accused of harassment. Labour suspended Jared O’mara MP last week over a litany of misogynistic behaviour, but Mrs May has not, so far, decided to remove the whip from Mr Crabb, who
has apologised for his behaviour after it was exposed by The Sunday Telegraph. She could come under pressure to suspend Mr Crabb after Justine Greening, the Education Secretary, urged Jeremy Corbyn to remove the whip from Mr O’mara. John Mann, the Labour MP, said Mrs May’s response was “weak” and called on her to remove the whip from Mr Crabb.
Last night, the Guido Fawkes website released a redacted spreadsheet of Tory MPS, including two Cabinet ministers, 18 other serving ministers and 12 other MPS alleged to have behaved inappropriately to women, and four who are alleged to have behaved inappropriately towards men. The names on the list make up more than one in 10 Tory MPS. Notes next to the names include “handsy with women at parties”, “paid a woman to be quiet” and “perpetually intoxicated and very inappropriate with women”.
In her letter to the Speaker, Mrs May said the current code of conduct “is simply not fair on staff. She said: “I do not believe that this situation can be tolerated any longer.”
A voluntary code of conduct for MPS “does not have legal standing and is therefore not fit for its intended purpose”, she added. Mrs May proposed a binding grievance procedure for all MPS to give their staff protection.
Mr Bercow is to hold a meeting this week to discuss the matter.
On Saturday, this newspaper revealed that MPS had resisted previous attempts to impose new rules to protect staff.
One current parliamentary staffer said: “The main issue is that there’s no independent human resources department that we can turn to. I don’t know anyone who would report an incident to their party. People are scared that it would damage their careers and that the party would put its reputation over a 20-something researcher.”
Nevertheless, police have dealt with nine cases of sexual harassment this year.
Mrs May also asked the Cabinet Office to investigate the behaviour of Mr Garnier, a married father-of-three.
He confirmed that he had asked his former secretary, Caroline Edmondson, to buy two sex toys, but insisted it was “high jinks”. He said he called her “sugar t--s” as part of “an amusing conversation” about the television comedy Gavin and Stacey, where the phrase is regularly used.
Labour MPS facing harassment allegations include one who was sent home from a foreign trip for making “inappropriate” approaches to a woman and an MP who is nicknamed “happy hands”.
A Labour source said: “It’s very much a case of ‘everyone knows everything’, but nobody says anything.”