Inside 'Pestminster' – the scandal that refuses to go away

For months, sexual predator Charlie Elphicke would sit in Westminster’s Portcullis House protesting his innocence to anyone willing to listen.

Insisting he was the victim of a MeToo “witch hunt”, the former Tory MP for Dover, who was last month found guilty of three counts of sexual assault on two women, in 2007 and 2016, even joked: “If I had done what I was accused of, I think I would have wanted to remember it.”

Yet after the court heard how the married father of two had groped one of his accusers and chased her around his house, singing: “I’m a naughty Tory,” it became apparent that Elphicke’s sympathisers had been misled.

With another unnamed Tory MP accused, this week, of raping a woman in her twenties – she alleges four separate incidents of sexual assault, as recently as this January – it seems the “Pestminster” scandal may be far from over.

Three years ago, following the accusations made against Harvey Weinstein, a series of similar allegations arose concerning British politicians.

A spreadsheet that alleged various sexual improprieties by Conservative MPs was published in a redacted form by the Guido Fawkes website. It detailed complaints against 36 individual MPs by women who worked for them. The claims ranged from sexualised banter to bullying behaviour; sexual assault and rape.

The ensuing scandal claimed scalps. Former defence secretary Michael Fallon resigned after his behaviour towards women had, he said, “fallen short”. While Damian Green, First Secretary of State, stepped down after being accused of sexually harassing Conservative activist Kate Maltby, as well as having been alleged to have viewed pornography on his work computer. (Green has always maintained he did not behave inappropriately towards Maltby but apologised if he had made her “feel uncomfortable”).

Other parties were not immune, with Labour MPs Kelvin Hopkins and Ivan Lewis suspended in November 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct (both denied any wrongdoing), while the Liberal Democrats suspended a party member who was alleged to have raped an activist, and referred the matter to the police.

The controversy prompted then prime minister Theresa May to propose that a new system be set up for Westminster employees, with an abuse hotline and independent grievance process. This independence was crucial, since parliamentary workers had previously only had recourse to complain about bad behaviour to their “line manager” – often the very MP, peer or senior official accused of wrongdoing.

So has the Independent Complaints and Grievance System (ICGS), which official figures say has received 1,259 calls and emails since its creation two years ago, made any difference to Parliament’s skewed power dynamic?

According to Tara O’Reilly, 25, unofficial spokeswoman for the abused men and women of Westminster, nefarious behaviour remains a problem – even during the pandemic.

The coordinator of Labour’s Tribune Group of MPs, who has previously spoken of being groped in Westminster’s bars and rated by colleagues on her “f---ability”, claims to have received grievances during lockdown.

“I’ve had staff complaining about sexually persistent behaviour – MPs phoning them in the middle of the night,” she says.

She is in touch with the woman now alleging rape by the unnamed Tory MP, who has not been suspended from the party pending investigation – a decision that has caused uproar among women’s groups, female MPs and rape survivors.

O’Reilly claims the woman still hasn’t heard anything from the party over the allegations that one of their own assaulted her, forced her to have sex and left her so traumatised she had to go to hospital.

“There’s a way of communicating without admitting liability, surely?” says O’Reilly.

After the 50-something MP was released on bail pending a Metropolitan Police investigation, charities and unions called for his suspension. For that to happen, a recommendation would need to be made for MPs to vote on. Parliament, however, is now on recess until September 1.

Mark Spencer, the Conservative Chief Whip, has come under fire for reportedly not acting when the woman first raised the allegation over a month ago to both him and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of the Commons.

A spokesman for Spencer said: “The Chief Whip takes all allegations of harassment and abuse extremely seriously and has strongly encouraged anybody who has approached him to contact the appropriate authorities, including Parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme.” Rees-Mogg is understood to have encouraged the woman to report the matter to the police.

A Conservative Party spokesman added: “We take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously. As this matter is now in the hands of the police it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Another victim of historic sexual harassment by a Tory MP, however, says the party is still “dysfunctional” when it comes to dealing with such allegations.

“There are some people in the leadership who do get it but the big problem is the 1922 Committee,” she says, pointing out that the body of Tory backbenchers lobbied for Elphicke’s whip to be restored after his suspension in November 2017. It was, controversially, in December 2018, when he was allowed to make up the numbers in a crucial confidence vote of no confidence against Theresa May.

She also claims the committee has “constantly pushed for anonymity for those accused, by arguing that MPs were more susceptible to false allegations and claiming Westminster isn’t a usual workplace”. In 2016, the Commons changed its procedure to prevent MPs being automatically identified by the Speaker if they are arrested.

A member of the 1922 executive this week defended its initial support of Elphicke because “our broad position is that people shouldn’t be sanctioned simply because of an allegation. Either sanction when the police say they have credible evidence or at the point of conviction.” The MP added that politicians were more susceptible to “politically motivated vexatious claims” than others.

All the parties’ handling of sexual assault cases leave a lot to be desired. On Thursday, Labour confirmed that Hopkins is still under investigation nearly three years on. His victim claims that his retirement at the last election means the party has effectively washed its hands of the matter. Lewis, meanwhile, resigned from the party in December 2018. “Labour treats all complaints extremely seriously and has robust procedures in place for dealing with them,” insisted a spokesman.

The sense of justice delayed being justice denied is still a problem, admits former leader of the house Andrea Leadsom, who helped to set up the ICGS.

“If I have any criticism of the ICGS then it’s that it takes far too long,” she says. Yet she remains hopeful that the general culture has changed. “Initially, there was denial that there even was an issue, but as we went on people started to accept it.

“I hope that in the latest case, there will be a proper parliamentary investigation as well as a criminal investigation.”

Former Labour MP Lord Mann, who was given a peerage last October, having been an outspoken critic of Parliament’s handling of sexual abuse allegations, says the upper chamber must also come under greater scrutiny. “Amid all this talk about the House of Lords being too full, why not remove some of the known perverts for starters?” he says.

Even now, he claims staff are still at risk of being abused “virtually”.

“Parliament’s certainly not as sleazy as it was, but it’s a long way from being sorted. Are you more likely to get caught because someone talks now? Yes. Much more likely than three years ago. In the past there was a reluctance to confide, and when you did you got bad advice. Now more people are confiding and getting good advice – but there’s still a long way to go.”