Parents of Westminster aides would be shocked by the culture of sleaze
YOUNG parliamentary researchers claim their parents would be ‘horrified’ if they knew the lurid truth of what goes on at the ‘Palace of Sexminster’. One aide said there were rumours of MPs and peers using date-rape drugs on junior activists, or paying for abortions after getting their staff pregnant.
Others claimed former ministers had been accused of manhandling women on the Commons terrace and that sex acts and drug-taking regularly took place in toilets.
Yesterday there were calls for an urgent overhaul of Westminster’s late-night drinking culture to prevent more damaging sleaze scandals from engulfing Parliament. The comments come two days after Nigel Evans, the former Deputy Speaker, was unanimously cleared of a series of sexual assaults.
The case shone a light on the drinkfuelled culture at Westminster – which has been labelled the ‘ Palace of Sexminster’ after a string of sexual harassment allegations.
A study released at the end of the trial also f ound that a third of researchers said they had been subject to harassment.
Yesterday the Tory researcher who gave evidence against Mr Evans decided to lift the lid on the reality of life in ‘the Westminster bubble’.
He said colleagues – many of whom were straight out of university – were often so desperate to progress in their careers that they did not report sexual assaults.
The 35-year-old, who had claimed Mr Evans had put his hand down his trousers at a Conservative Party
‘Parliament needs to get a grip on sleaze’
conference in 2003 but was brought to court despite insisting he was not a victim, added: ‘I think an awful lot of parents of people who work in Parliament would be horrified if they saw the reality of what life in the Westminster bubble is like.’
The Tory activist, who is married, added: ‘Parliament needs to get a grip on this alcohol-fuelled sleaze before it brews into something worse than the expenses scandal that destroys all trust in MPs.
‘ There is a problem and the politicians need to act. Otherwise a story will come out that starts an onslaught that makes the accusations we have heard in the last few weeks seem like small fry.’
He said he did not know if rumours of MPs using date-rape drugs and paying for abortions were true, but said he heard allegations ‘ all of the time’.
‘Most of these will be largely untrue, but there will be some reason why that rumour started in the first place,’ he added. ‘I think the sleazy nature of hanging around with people who are just out of university, it does not look good. We’re now living in an age when everyone’s got a camera in their pocket. At some point someone is going to take a photo in the Strangers Bar of someone behaving in a way they shouldn’t and it’s going to balloon and some very serious allegations will come forward, and by that point it will be too late and Parliament will have to act.’
He i s now calling f or bars in Parliament to have 9pm curfews for researchers.
Another man who made allegations about Mr Evans said there was no proper way to deal with complaints.
He told Newsnight: ‘ The strange thing about Parliament is that they make the laws but they don’t act like any other place of business.
‘Researchers and MPs’ staff don’t have an HR department. Our bosses are technically self- employed and we’re all small businesses so even though we work in one big building there was no mechanism to deal with this problem, and there still isn’t.’
Tory party chiefs yesterday released a code of conduct for MPs. Chief whip Sir George Young wrote to MPs to urge them to sign up to the code, which said staff should be treated with ‘ dignity, respect and courtesy’ and should be ‘free from discrimination, victimisation, harassment or bullying’. They should also not have to endure ‘unwelcome behaviour’.