Women who stood up to expose ‘Pestminster’
WHEN a list of alleged ‘sex pests’ was circulated around Westminster just before Christmas in 2017, many dismissed it as an example of yet more scurrilous Parliamentary gossip.
But then women started speaking out publicly. Tory activist Kate Maltby, 31, said Cabinet Office Minister Damien Green had made an unwanted advance two years earlier, suggesting that if she accepted his advances, it might further her career. She alleged he put a hand on her knee, and sent her an inappropriate text.
The revelations sparked a Cabinet Office inquiry into sexual impropriety. And Sir Michael Fallon, then Defence Secretary, admitted touching the knee of a female journalist at a dinner 15 years ago.
Former Daily Mail political reporter Jane Merrick also revealed how Fallon had lunged at her and tried to kiss her on the lips in 2003.
As the so-called ‘Pestminster’ scandal gathered pace, the Cabinet Office investigated Tory Minister Mark Garnier for getting his Commons secretary to buy sex toys for him, And Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was later jailed for three counts of sexual assault.
Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins was suspended by his party in 2017 following allegations he had sexually harassed a Labour party activist, Separately, Labour activist Bex Bailey said she was the victim of an assault a Labour event in 2011 when she was 19. The Mail on Sunday also revealed Tory whip Chris Pincher was accused of making an unwanted sexual pass to an activist while dressed in his bathrobe.