SNP pair must quit if found guilty of sexual misconduct, says colleague
TWO SNP politicians being investigated over sexual harassment allegations must quit if they are found guilty, according to a leading Nationalist MP.
Kirsty Blackman, former deputy leader of the SNP at Westminster, yesterday said MPs Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson should both stand down if they are found to have acted inappropriately.
Investigations by the House of Commons’ independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS) are to conclude soon.
An SNP staff member made a complaint to the party about then-chief whip Mr Grady and Mrs Gibson in February 2021.
He claims Mr Grady touched him inappropriately in 2016 in the Water Poet pub in London. He also alleged Mrs Gibson, the SNP’s housing spokesman, grabbed him and told him ‘You should come home with me’ in the Strangers Bar in the Commons in January 2020, and said ‘things that were completely inappropriate in terms of what she wanted to do’.
Asked on the BBC’s Politics Live show if any SNP politician found guilty of sexual misconduct should be kicked out of the party, Miss Blackman said: ‘I think the, erm, yes.’ Pressed on what should happen if the complaint is upheld, she added: ‘I don’t think people found guilty of sexual misconduct should be in politics.’
Mr Grady, MP for Glasgow North, quit as chief whip last March after the party launched an investigation. Mrs Gibson, MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, has strongly denied the allegations, claiming two other MPs who were present have told the party there is ‘no substance’ to them. The staff member withdrew his complaint to the party last July to pursue the ICGS route.