Labour row as MP ‘sexually assaulted by frontbencher’

LABOUR was caught up in another sleaze row last night after it emerged a female MP had reported a shadow minister to the police for allegedly sexually assaulting her.

The incident is said to have taken place after a summer party in London in July 2021. The MP, who has not been named, contacted the Metropolitan Police two months ago to make the allegation. The identity of the alleged male perpetrator has also not been made public. The MP has now asked the police to drop the investigation.

Despite the accusation, Sir Keir Starmer has not suspended the party whip from the MP, despite his alleged “zero tolerance” of sexual abuse.

It comes a day after the Labour leader was accused of hypocrisy for allowing a senior aide to keep his job, even though he had allegedly groped an intern.

It emerged that the aide, who has not been named, had resigned. Many in the party have been appalled by the reports, with one source describing the successive days of revelations as “pretty disgraceful”.

A second source feared many more allegations could follow. The latest incident was first reported by the Tortoise news website, which said the alleged victim had also spoken to Labour whips over safeguarding issues and concerns about a “wider pattern of behaviour”.

She is said to have been reluctant to make a formal complaint, although she was encouraged to, as she felt his popularity within the party would not help her case, the report claims.

The Met Police said it had received a report that a woman was sexually assaulted by a man in London in July 2021, but “at the victim’s request the incident will not now be investigated at this time.”

A Labour Party spokesman said: “We take any allegations of this sort very seriously and would always encourage individuals to go to the parliamentary process, the Labour Party process or the police.”