‘It brought a lot of support to our cause but
Pressure grows for SNP’S Blackford to quit over handling of sex pest case
Ian Blackford is under mounting pressure over his handling of a sex pest MP amid claims of a toxic management culture among the SNP group atwestminster.
The MP, who leads the group, has come under sustained pressure over how a complaint against Patrick Grady MP was handled after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances to a teenage staffer.
His victim accused Blackford of failing to properly investigate his complaint, which was later upheld by parliamentary authorities, before a leaked recording revealed him exhorting MPS to give Grady their full support.
Yesterday, a senior source close to the SNP group at Westminster said the scandal was exposing the “infighting, hypocrisy and bullying that has gone on for years”.
Blackford, 61, was caught in a leaked tape recording urging party members to stand by sex pest Grady, who was found guilty of misconduct following a House of Commons investigation into his sexual harassment of a teenage male staffer, who was 19 when the incident happened in 2016.
Receiving a two- day suspension from parliament, Grady issued an apology and said he had undergone retraining in how to behave towards staff.
Last week First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the appeal for support for the MP as “utterly unacceptable” and offered to meet his victim.
Hours later the Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP attempted to defend his role in the scandal in an interview with STV political editor Bernard Ponsonby. Asked six times if it was acceptable for a sex pest to be an MP, Blackford referred to the need for proper processes to be in place.
He refused to comment on why Grady was allowed to retain the party whip while MSPS accused of sending inappropriate texts had been suspended from the party at Holyrood.
The Westminster source said: “The party feeling is that if Blackford had made a fulsome apology last Monday, that may have helped ease this whole awful situation. But given the way things have panned out, it’s now very difficult to see how Blackford can survive this.”
The victim, who is now 25, said he has resigned his party membership and feels his whole career plan has been railroaded because of the incident, which has left him isolated and distressed.
He told The Sunday Post: “I took a modern apprenticeship at 16 and became a party worker at the Scottish Parliament. I worked hard, got promoted and ended up at Westminster where we often worked round the clock. I loved my job so much, I thought I’d even like to be an MP some day.
“But everything changed when Grady harassed me. I’ve been left isolated. For the last couple of years I’ve been excluded from emails, not invited to meetings, and just left doing virtually nothing as if I’ve been the one who has done something wrong.
“It’s been really hard on me, and left me in quite dark places. The stress has been awful.”
The SNP Westminster parliamentary group said it “has followed process and offered support throughout”, adding: “The complainant was encouraged to use the independent investigation route so that there could be no question that the appropriate, independently determined sanction had been reached.
“We understand the individual feels differently, and does not accept the independent outcome. We have offered to meet with them to discuss their concerns. We have also initiated a review of our pastoral support and processes.”