LABOUR TRIED TO COVER UP MY RAPE
Activist, 19, ‘attacked by senior party official’
LABOUR Party officials were last night accused of hushing up the rape of a young activist.
Bex Bailey says she was attacked at a Labour event when aged 19.
But she did not tell police because a senior staff member warned her it would damage her political career.
Her shocking disclosure switches the focus on to Labour following a series of sexual harassment claims against Conservative MPs.
Jeremy Corbyn, who has condemned Westminster’s ‘warped and degrading culture’, was forced to order an immediate investigation into the claims of a cover-up.
Miss Bailey, who is now 25, said she was not ‘even given a cup of tea’ after summoning up the courage to discuss her ordeal. She identified the perpetrator as a senior party official who was not an MP.
As the scandal continued to dominate Westminster yesterday:
Another woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by an MP and said parliament took no action;
A list of more than 40 Tory MPs, including six Cabinet ministers, all accused of various sexual acts, was circulating on the internet;
But the dossier included more than a dozen consensual liaisons between politicians as well as anonymous and unverified allegations;
One Tory MP in the dossier publicly identified himself and called for an end to the ‘witch hunt’;
A female journalist whose knee was
touched by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon 15 years ago insisted she was not a victim.
On Sunday Labour leader Mr Corbyn said abuse of women had gone on for ‘far too long’. He added: ‘It is a warped and degrading culture that also exists and thrives in the corridors of power, including in Westminster.’
But yesterday, Miss Bailey, a former member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, spoke out, waiving anonymity, explaining how she wanted to encourage all political parties to reform.
‘I was seriously sexually assaulted at a Labour party event by – it wasn’t an MP – but someone who was more senior to me,’ she told the BBC. ‘It took me a while to summon up the courage to tell anyone in the party, but when I did I told a senior member of staff ... it was suggested to me that I not report it.
‘I was told that if I did it might damage me and that might be their genuine view, it might be that that was the case, in which case that shows that we have a serious problem in politics.’
She said she did not report the attack immediately when it happened in 2011 as she was ‘scared and ashamed’ and said she believed that for some, party loyalty came first. ‘I know that the Labour party, like any family, loves a good gossip and I didn’t want people to know, and I also was worried that I wouldn’t be believed if I did,’ she added.
She said she initially tried to pretend it did not happen and ‘just sort of shut away’. Two years later she tried to report it to a senior figure but said she was not given the support she needed.
‘I guess it was clear that staff didn’t have the training that was needed in order to report this properly,’ she said.
‘So they didn’t have the sort of mandatory safe guarding training that should be in place that would’ve meant that I’d have been given proper advice, been told what the procedure was and talked through that in case I did decide to report it.’
She said trying to report it was a ‘horrible experience’: ‘I don’t think I was even given a cup of tea at the time... this is why I’ve been fighting so hard for changes to the way that we do this, because I know how hard it is. I don’t want other women to experience what I did. The current procedure relies on you having to tell a member of staff actually, in the first instance.
‘That relies on staff members who perhaps, as much as I love them in the Labour Party, are inclined to be loyal to the Labour Party and put that first instead of the individuals coming forward.’ She added: ‘ And it can be really difficult to report these issues to a staff member who might be friends with the person that you’re accusing, who might be political allies with them, or have some incentive to protect them and to protect the Labour party that we all love.’
Miss Bailey, from West Bridgford, Notts, has been one of Labour’s leading young activists for several years and spent three years on the party’s National Executive Committee.
She has worked for Liz Kendall, the Blairite candidate in the party’s leadership election. She is also a charity worker and sits on the Labour Women’s Network committee. She has written on topics such as homelessness, equality and the NHS.
Labour MP Stella Creasy said: ‘Bex Bailey is one of the most talented and courageous women I have the honour to know. I am devastated to hear this and determined it must change.’
Writing on Facebook, Mr Corbyn said: ‘Speaking out about rape and sexual harassment takes enormous courage. Bex Bailey has shown incredible bravery by talking publicly about what has happened to her and has my full support and solidarity. I have asked Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, to launch an independent investigation into the allegations that she wasn’t given the support from the party she should have received and had the right to expect. There will be no tolerance in the Labour Party for sexism, harassment or abuse. We are absolutely committed to rooting it out.’
‘It was a horrible experience’
IT is difficult to exaggerate the gravity of a prominent Labour activist’s claim that she was raped by a senior official at a party event, and then told not to report it because this would harm her career.
As should go without saying, it must be fully investigated by the police, while any party official found complicit in a cover-up must also face the full force of the law.
But shouldn’t it also put into perspective the witch-hunt against 40 MPs, including 16 ministers, who stand accused of minor sexual impropriety, such as patting a knee or making an unwelcome, tipsy pass?
To conflate such trivial charges with rape claims is an insult to genuine victims of sex crimes. It is also a terrible affront to justice.
For consider what is happening to those 40 MPs, many of whom are in happy, established relationships.
Without any evidence – let alone proof – complaints made anonymously are being registered on an allegedly confidential spreadsheet. The names of those accused are then spread across the internet through social media. Thus, reputations are permanently damaged.
This is lynch-mob justice at its worst, whipped up by feminist zealots.
Truly, these are chilling times in which the web can be mobilised to betray the victims of sex crimes, defy justice and fairness – and dissuade able men and women from entering public life.