BACKLASH AT ‘WITCH HUNT’

May warned crackdown on sex pest MPs could lead to false claims

THERESA May was warned she risked sparking a Westminster ‘witch hunt’ last night after ministers were told they could be sacked for making staff ‘feel uncomfortable’.

The Prime Minister ordered a crackdown on Parliamentary sex pests after the latest Westminster sleaze scandal threatened to spiral out of control.

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said Tory MPs faced being suspended from the party if unwanted sexual comments or advances were found to have made junior staff ‘feel uncomfortable’.

Mrs Leadsom, speaking with Mrs May at her side, said ministers caught up in the scandal could be ‘fired from ministerial office’ – and the threshold for action would be behaviour ‘significantly below criminal activity’. She said new proposals, including an independent ‘grievance procedure’ and training for MPs in how to treat their staff, would be brought forward ‘within days’.

But the proposals sparked unease. One female Tory MP called for ‘ perspective’, while a female Tory peer warned of creating an atmosphere that might ‘encourage’ false allegations.

The Daily Telegraph reported that two female members of a minister’s staff moved to other jobs because of his ‘inappropriate’ behaviour. The minister, who has not been named, is said to have made an advance towards one of the women and made inappropriate comments to the other.

A spokesman for the minister said he did not ‘recognise’ the allegations.

As the scandal threatened to engulf Westminster yesterday:

Downing Street refused to say if Mrs May retained confidence in trade minister Mark Garnier, after claims he asked a female aide to buy sex toys;

One Tory MP warned colleagues on a WhatsApp messaging group that the scandal could ‘bring down the Government’;

Labour faced questions about its own conduct after frontbencher Cat Smith said she had to ‘ run away’ from a sexual predator in the party;

A Commons researcher revealed an MP had asked him to clean his kitchen in his underwear following a boozy night in a Commons bar;

Journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer recounted a case of a Cabinet minister who repeatedly put his hand on her knee at dinner but said it was ‘absurd’ to treat the incident as serious sexual harassment;

Mrs May was urged to investigate a secret dossier naming 36 Tory MPs as sex pests;

The SNP confirmed that it had launched two investigations into claims of sexual harassment.

Yesterday’s crackdown followed a string of allegations that senior MPs, including members of the Cabinet, have sexually harassed junior colleagues over many years.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries said it was right to draw up a proper legal basis for dealing with complaints. But she added: ‘We need to keep a perspective on this. Mediocre men behaving badly hold good women back in many workplaces across the UK, not just in Westminster.

‘We need action in terms of separating the historic and legal behaviour between consenting adults, from that which has serious grounds for complaint. My guess is, that may boil down to very little.

‘Otherwise, it turns into a witch hunt which benefits no one.’ Baroness Jenkin, a close friend of Mrs May, warned against creating an atmosphere that encouraged false allegations.

Graham Brady, chairman of the powerful 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, described a sense of ‘anguish’ among MPs that they could have their reputations ‘unfairly tarnished’ by the activities of a small minority. ‘Where there is wrongdoing it needs to be dealt with,’ he said, adding: ‘I think it would be a mistake to imagine that Parliament is a den of inequity.’

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq said the number of incidents would ‘probably be in the hundreds’.

Senior parliamentary figures have met to discuss ways for victims of sexual assault to speak up ‘without fear’. The move came after Mrs May called for a new independent helpline to deal with complaints of harassment at Westminster.

Commons Speaker John Bercow also called for change in Parliament amid what he described as ‘disturbing’ allegations about a ‘culture of sexual harassment’.

Mrs May has been stung by claims she ignored evidence of sexual harassment because the information was useful to Tory whips.

‘We need to keep a perspective on this’