I know how tough Parliament can be – but this hurricane is changing the mood for good

Let’s be clear – after months of investigation, the number of people in politics who have used their positions to harass, bully or sexually assault their employees amounts to a handful in each party.

Even before the Harvey Weinstein allegations emerged, we were trying to understand the experiences of those who have the least power in politics. I’m 25, and I know what an intimidating place Parliament can be.

The behaviour described by individuals who spoke to us included allegations of “inappropriate touching”, sexual text messages and “intimidating” calls late at night. Given the severity of the claims, The Telegraph has been looking into the most serious cases.

Take one woman we spoke to who claims she was sexually assaulted and held down in a hotel room abroad by an MP. When she reported it, she was told directly by Commons authorities that Parliament was powerless to investigate. When she turned to Kathryn Hudson, who is responsible for upholding MPs’ behaviour, she was duty bound to inform the woman that she, too, was unable to act because Parliament’s “respect policy” only “regulated the relationships” between MPs and Estate staff.

With no other obvious alternative, she took her case to the police. However, even they were unable to help her because the assault happened overseas and was therefore outside their jurisdiction.

She told me: “It felt like every mechanism I tried was just a dead end. I hit a brick wall. Nothing has changed to prevent it happening again and I just don’t know what else I could have done about it.”

On Thursday night, Kelvin Hopkins, the Labour MP, was suspended after our investigation flagged allegations that he sent “inappropriate” text messages and rubbed himself up against a young woman after a political event.

Ava Etemadzadeh, who was 24 at the time, told us that she had informed the whips’ office at the time of the incident and that another regional representative had contacted the Leader’s office last year to raise concerns about the allegations.

She was astounded that Mr Hopkins was later promoted to shadow minister. He has since denied the allegations.

Her story came just days after Bex Bailey, a 25-year-old Labour member, claimed senior figures in the party had told her not to report an attack by a fellow activist at a party event six years ago because it could damage her political career.

She said that when she managed to “summon the courage” to report the incident to a senior official in the party two years later she was told not to take the issue further.

These three stories are from three different women and involve three different outcomes. But what unites them is that despite their courage in speaking out, their stories were swept under the rug.

For those who are sceptical or trivialise those who are coming forward with these allegations, it must be acknowledged that it takes courage to make a complaint when you anticipate that it may both impact and damage your career. No one wants to do anything to tarnish the reputation of a party in which they may one day want to hold a prominent position.

But the mood is changing in Westminster and it feels as if we have reached a watershed moment.

The Commons consists of 650 small businesses, all without HR departments to protect the people who work in them. If we are to bring about the change of culture that will finally unearth and root out the problem for good, we must take the power away from politicians and bring independent experts into Parliament.

A Cabinet source told me on Friday that Parliament feels “broken”, so we need to justify these painful weeks with a significant overhaul of the way staff are employed and the way party activists are protected.

When we first broke our investigation, the Government anticipated a “coming storm”, but no one expected the hurricane that would ensue.

The women and men to whom I have spoken have found it painful to talk and the resounding message has simply been: “I just don’t want anyone else to go through what I had to.”

Parliament, not the parties, has the power to make this possible.