Parties must grow up and tackle bullying head-on
MPs at Westminster sometimes feel like they’re back in the school playground as numerous big bullies throw their weight around. denied the bullying allegations, what took the party so long? Had earlier action been taken, then Mr Johnson – whose complaint against Mr Clarke finally triggered the internal investigation – might still be with us.
The party responded to the report by setting up new procedures to handle complaints by volunteers, including a dedicated hotline and training for employees.
It was a start, but at the very least there should now be a fully independent and transparent inquiry.
There must also be a comprehensive attempt to tackle the ‘if you don’t like it, there are plenty of others who will’ mentality.
In any competitive field – journalism and
Neil Hamilton. law are good examples, too – this approach seems deep-seated. There’s a sense that newcomers should be so grateful for being handed an opportunity that they should be prepared to put up with anything.
This is fundamentally wrong. What about a duty of care, especially in relation to volunteers?
In a political context – with, say, the prospect of a parliamentary seat further down the line – it becomes even more toxic.
I suspect and worry there are other Mr Johnsons who are keeping their heads down, taking it on the chin, until the day they crack. Complaints of bullying in the Labour Party provide evidence that this entrenched issue crosses the political divide.
In July, former shadow Cabinet minister Seema Malhotra spoke of a “culture of bullying” which needed to be stamped out.
The same month, Wallasey Constituency Labour Party group was suspended following accusations of intimidation.
There have even been allegations – again rejected – directed against Jeremy Corbyn. The party leader was forced to deny he was a bully after senior Labour critic Conor McGinn claimed he had threatened to call his father, a Sinn Fein councillor, to apply pressure on him to stop speaking out.
The St Helens North MP called Mr Corbyn a hypocrite for talking about a “kinder, gentler politics” while purportedly proposing to use his family against him.
Let’s also not forget the suspensions of Naz Shah and former London mayor Ken Livingstone amid antiSemitism claims.
In an article published earlier this month, Ann Carlton, a former Government special adviser, drew comparisons between the 1981 deputy leadership election and the current tussle between Mr Corbyn and Owen Smith.
She described “personal nastiness against people who had served the party loyally for decades” as the “hallmark of many political meetings”.
Whatever her motivations in writing, it seems this ugly and harmful culture is far from a new phenomenon.
Surely, it is finally time for political parties to professionalise and tackle the issue head-on? THE number of NHS data protection breaches has jumped by more than a third in the space of a year.
Patient records were affected by data loss, theft or other breaches on 920 occasions in 2015 – up 388 on 2014
Greater Glasgow & Clyde reported a case where a folder containing patient results and treatment plans was left in a public area.
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Since 2013, patient records have been compromised on almost 2000 occasions.
“There is clearly room for improvement.” SCOTTISH colleges and universities have received more than £140 million of EU funding, new figures have revealed.
The SNP unearthed the data as part of a bid to ensure Scottish higher education institutions did not lose out on vital funding in the aftermath of Brexit.
SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth said: “These figures show how vital EU funding is to our universities and the lack of certainty provided by the Tories puts this reputation on the line – risking the cream of our research talent walking away.”