Westminster MPs treated their staffers like servants, inquiry finds

Dame Laura Cox’s inquiry has laid bare the scale of sexual harassment, intimidation and bullying in Westminster, the vast majority of it targeted at women, whose careers have been blighted by a lack of action on the issue.

All of the allegations of sexual harassment detailed in the report were made against male MPs or staff.

Women found themselves the target of jokes by gangs of “boorish” male MPs who made lewd comments and sexual gestures and made them answer “offensive and humiliating” questions about their sex lives, she found.

Examples of harassment also included inappropriate physical contact like trying to force a kiss.

In her report, Cox said there were allegations of “some atrocious treatment of young women by MPs”, and of “some women being treated as [MPs’] personal servants, with veiled threats to have them moved if they failed to comply with requests”.

Women were advised informally by colleagues to avoid particular MPs or to make sure they were “never in a room alone with them”.

Other MPs had acquired a reputation as “serial offenders” for bullying staff, the report said.

Again, most allegations were made by women, Cox said.

Staff described almost daily examples of some MPs shouting at or belittling staff, swearing at them face to face or over the phone or being “routinely unpleasant, overbearing or confrontational” towards them and “treating us like servants”.

MPs frequently shouted abuse at staff, including yelling “you’re (expletive) useless” at close quarters, a phrase described as being used regularly by a number of different people from different departments, the report said.

Abusive language could be accompanied by a violent grab of the hand or arm, staff said.

Of the 200 complainants who came forward, almost 70% were women, many of whom reported numerous complaints on behalf of others.

Women were most often targeted with the criticism that they were “not tough enough” for the job, the report said.

Allegations of sexism and racism also extended to parliamentary staff, the report said, with some managers running teams “like fiefdoms”, with a “macho culture in which women in particular are not welcome”.

Some members of staff from minority ethnic backgrounds reported racist abuse and being frequently challenged as to their right to be in particular parts of the estate.