Labour repaid £100,000 to Davide Serra yesterday; a donor accused of sexual harassment. The high-flying City financier is accused of making “wholly inappropriate” comments about the size of a female colleague’s breasts. He also allegedly suggested that his head of business development and investor relations, Jolanda Niccolini, would do anything for her clients – ‘including prostitute herself’. Unsurprisingly, this led to Ms. Niccolini taking legal action, resulting in a tribunal judge ordering Mr. Serra’s firm to part with £32,000 in compensation.
Labour’s discomfort didn’t end there yesterday, as another donor, Dale Vince, decided to take his philanthropy to the streets. He joined an eco-protest in London with his well-funded group, Just Stop Oil raising suspicions that he may have had some influence on Sir Keir’s promise to halt North Sea oil and gas exploration. Stay tuned for the next donor drama…
Charlotte Nichols, 2019 intake Labour MP for Warrington North, has been making ripples in the press since last November, when she told 5 Live that there is a “whisper network list of the people [in Westminster] to avoid”. In December The Sun on Sunday reported there was a new Pestminster list of MPs circulating, with a Tory MP telling the paper this one – unlike the 2017 spreadsheet – contains individuals from “across all the political parties.” The race was on to find a copy…
Then on January 1st, Nichols found herself once again at the centre of controversy after sharing a sexual harassment list of 20 MPs to a WhatsApp group used by fellow 2019 intake MPs. The Mail on Sunday got the scoop, reporting that Nichols told them she’d shared it to the group by mistake and had since deleted the post, though she “stood by every name”. A senior Labour figure told the paper, “If you believe you have evidence that X, Y or Z is a wrong ‘un, then fair enough. But you can’t just put names out like this.”
Perhaps the senior Labour figure is so concerned by Nichols because unlike the infamous 2017 Pestminster list, this new one of 20 MPs is made up of 40% Labour members.
Guido’s been passed the list, and can confirm the breakdown is 11 Tories, 8 Labour and a single senior SNP frontbencher. While no specific allegations against any of the names are made by Nichols, Chris Pincher is among the names, as is Chris Matheson who recently resigned as the MP for Chester for “unwanted sexual advances” towards a junior member of staff. Six of the names on Nichols’ list were on the 2017 list, all of whom are Tories.
Guido’s source also revealed that a Lobby political editor is known to be making inquiries into one senior Labour MP named on Nichols’ list, regarding sexual misconduct. Guido’s only surprise is that her list doesn’t contain some more infamous names…
UPDATE: Guido has now spoken to 2 of the MPs named by Charlotte Nichols, they didn’t know they were on her list and expressed off the record bemusement.
Back in March Ian Blackford was forced to deny resignation rumours, amid claims published by Politico that he was planning to step down because of infighting among the party’s MPs. Now, due to mistakes of his own making, Blackford is actually having to fight for his job.
On Friday, The Mail published an exclusive that Blackford had been recorded at an SNP MP meeting directing his group of parliamentarians to throw their support behind Patrick Grady, who earlier in the week had been found guilty of sexual harassment and sentenced to two days suspension. The recording heard Blackford say MPs should give him their “absolute full support”. A long way from when he proudly tweeted in 2017 “I am happy to affirm SNP Westminster group will have zero tolerance of unacceptable behaviour”…
Urgent Question on sexual harassment underway. I am happy to affirm SNP Westminster group will have zero tolerance of unacceptable behaviour
— Ian Blackford 🇺🇦🏴 (@Ianblackford_MP) October 30, 2017
The next day The Sun published the recording, in which SNP MPs are heard applauding and saying “hear, hear”, along with interventions from Amy Callaghan and Marion Fellows, a junior whip who worked for Grady. Following the recording leak, the SNP’s Westminster chief whip finally pulled his finger out… and threatened the leaker with legal action.
After all this farce, Guido can confidently say this scandal is not going to abate anytime soon. The complainer at the heart of the Grady investigation told LBC this morning that he’s “considering his options and they include possible legal action.”
It’s also worth remembering that Patrick Grady is not alone in being accused of sexual impropriety by the victim. Also in attendance at Blackford’s pro-Grady rally, Guido’s told, was one Patricia Gibson, who is herself under investigation by the Commons’ Independent Expert Panel for sexual harassment. Gibson’s currently attempting to appeal the decision against her, dragging the process out. Guido hears the complainant actually reported the Gibson incident to the chief whip the very next day, however he was too busy to deal with it. The chief whip when the incident was reported? Mr Patrick Grady…
Reminder: 1 in 5 SNP MPs Have Quit, Been Sacked, are Under Investigation or Suspended…
UPDATE: SNP MP U-Turns on Patrick Grady Support, Offers Full Apology
