Sadiq Khan has a new plan to tackle violence against women and girls. Taking to the airwaves this morning he announced that relationship education will be crucial in challenging sexism and reducing harassment of women, with kids as young as four expected to receive the lessons. The main plank pushed by the mayor this morning is getting men to call out harassing and abusive behaviour when they see their mates perpetuating it:
Male violence against women and girls starts with words.
If you see it happening, have a word with yourself – then your mates. #HaveAWord pic.twitter.com/8PjeBdkFNZ
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) March 14, 2022
It’s a shame that Sadiq and his remainer mates couldn’t find it within themselves to call time on Bercow after he’d been accused of bullying, harassment and sexism. In 2018 minister Claire Perry accused Bercow of sexism, accusing him of having a “woman problem”, and followed Andrea Leadsom publicly calling him out for describing her as a “stupid woman”. Did Sadiq condemn him? No, he lavished praise on him a year later when he announced his retirement.
Time and again John Bercow has shown courage and conviction in his role as the champion of our Parliamentary democracy – and rarely has it been more sorely needed. I wish him all the best for the future. https://t.co/U06QoDB5RN
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) September 9, 2019
In 2009, Sadiq Khan boasted of backing him to be speaker of the Commons, despite Bercow telling the Telegraph nine years prior that female MPs’ complaints about sexism in Parliament were “a defence mechanism against their own inadequacy. You don’t find the competent attractive ones like Yvette Cooper moaning on about sexism.” Sadiq’s also stayed oddly quiet on Bercow since last week’s verdict. Remember men, call out sexism – as long as they’re not on your side of the political aisle…
Yesterday, a statement from the Metropolitan Police claimed officers were not in the “immediate vicinity” of BBC Newsnight journalist Nick Watt as he was harassed by anti-lockdown cranks at Monday’s protest, however footage of the event show police idly standing by, mere metres from the incident. Based on the damning footage Guido will let co-conspirators decide whether police officers were in the “immediate vicinity” of the attack…
This video clearly shows Nick Watt being chased, harassed and abused right in front of police officers who just leave the mob to get on with it, really concerning
— Liam Thorp 💙 (@LiamThorpECHO) June 15, 2021
pic.twitter.com/xDYpSiCCko
The Met swiftly deleted that and instead tweeted:
“We acknowledge the concerns that have been raised about the police response during this incident. We take those concerns seriously and will be reviewing our actions with a view to improving the policing of events for all Londoners.”
The Met have also arrested Martin Hockridge, 57, in connection to the incident and he is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 29th. It’s been tough week for the Met who just yesterday were accused of “institutional corruption” over failures in the murdered private detective investigation. With the police force steeped in controversy Ms. Dick’s critics are up in arms again…
SNP’s Westminster turmoil continues after two senior members of their front bench were accused of sexually harassing a member of staff – Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson.* A punchy email from the member of staff behind two-thirds of the allegations has now been leaked in which he wrote to SNP staffers “to let you know that you are not safe working for the SNP Westminster Group”:
“These concerns were raised with HQ, who have yet to approach any witnesses or even do anything other than get a statement over 2 months ago.
Two MPs witnessed the harassment by Patricia but she is still serving and neither witness has been approached. Why?
Ian Blackford knows about the Patrick Grady harassment, he’s still an SNP MP speaking on the SNP benches. Why?”
He ends the communiqué warning fellow staffers that they may be the “next to receive sexual harassment when you are expected to work on the Parliamentary Estate.”
The jaw-dropping email was not only sent by a serving member of staff, it was sent to Ian Blackford and Kirsten Oswald, CC’ing in members of staff. Incredibly, he continues working for the SNP…
*Ms Gibson says she will sue Guido if we name her. On what grounds we do not know.
This morning came the inevitable naming of the second SNP MP facing investigation for harassment against a member of staff: Patricia Gibson. Gibson is accused of “grabbing” the 22-year-old staffer’s hand, pulling at him, and saying “things like ‘You should come home with me'”. The naming of Gibson comes shortly after the naming of former chief whip Patrick Grady over harassment claims from two young male staffers. Intriguingly, according to The Herald, Gibson has been provided with information from MP witnesses – submitted as part of the investigation – which doesn’t sound compliant with a standard complaints process…
The sheer onslaught of SNP scandals prompted a look at the current parliamentary MP cohort, which is in a sorry state. Of the 44 MPs elected less than two years ago:
While this list excludes controversies that didn’t see repercussions – such as Douglas Chapman claiming the British Army was “attacking” Scots online – it totals 18% of the SNP’s 44-seats won at the last election. Guido can’t recall so many casualties from a single party in such a short space of time…
An SNP staffer who accused former Chief Whip Patrick Grady of sexual harassment has attacked the party’s handling of his complaints, and is now claiming the leadership’s response – including from Ian Blackford – has amounted to ‘victim blaming’. Hardly surprising, given how Sturgeon herself sat on the claims against Grady for three years.
In a new email sent to Westminster’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, the staffer alleges that party bosses reacted to his complaints by simply moving him away from the whips’ office against his own wishes, and that their actions have sent him “into bouts of depression…in part due to the lack of support [he’s] received from colleagues.” A probe into Grady’s behaviour is finally underway…
Guido understands that the staffer was totally unaware of the numerous other complaints against Grady when he made his own claims, meaning the party had him working for the accused MP for years. So much for the SNP’s ‘zero tolerance of inappropriate behaviour’…
As Guido pointed out when breaking the news on Tuesday, Hartlepool MP Mike Hill will conveniently bow out just before his pending sexual harassment tribunal in May. The story is a squalid one that Guido spent time highlighting last year: Labour removed the whip in September 2019 when the allegations from a former member of staff surfaced, only to then restore it under false pretences of the complaint being withdrawn in order for the Corbyn-friendly MP to stand in the 2019 election. The complaint was never withdrawn, merely “parked” pending the outcome of an investigation by the Commons complaint committee…
Suzanne McKie QC, who’s representing the claimant, has now come out swinging; attacking the Labour Party as having been in “radio silence” for the past 18 months, and slamming both Corbyn and Starmer for failing to offer support to her client – at the cost of “significant distress, lost employment and had not had access to counselling”. Labour has massive questions to answer about their handling of the case – whether Hill is in or out of the Commons…
