Men at Westminster

[OlennasWimple]

In the light of the revelations already out there, and the suggestion that there are plenty more to come, I thought it would be worth having a stand alone thread to discuss them rather than them being caught up in other threads. The way that this is being reported and commented on is interesting in itself.

For example, it's apparently Theresa May's fault that there are "sex pests" in the Cabinet (not the men themselves who are to blame)

Whilst Jeremy Hunt manages to patronise grown women with his suggestion that the people who need reassurance are "the mums and dads" of women in Westminster, not the women themselves...

what’s the deal with this wyatt woman - she hiring herself out to whoever needs a posh moron

Isn't her claim to fame shagging Boris Johnson?

Possibly, but why does that make her a person whose opinion on this, or indeed any other, issue is of any significance? Couldn’t today find someone with a brain to take the contrarian line?

"I spy a narrative of "false accusations ruin lives" building."
Indeed. We are hearing a lot about whether or not he received appropriate pastoral care and information about the accusations, but is anyone checking that the women who reported what had happened are receiving appropriate care? Because at the moment, they are going to be even more silenced than they were before, because if they do go public, they will probably be accused of killing a decent family man with their lies..............On Twitter for example, many people seems to be listing these accusations as false, knowing nothing whatsoever about them other than that the person accused committed suicide.............

I see now that Dawn Butler has now modified her earlier position and says:
"After giving an interview this morning, I have looked further into the process followed in this case.

"I am satisfied that the appropriate process was followed, including preserving the anonymity of alleged victims at this stage of the process, and therefore do not feel an investigation is required."

What we have here now, possibly, is the anonymity of complainants versus those accused. Suspension whilst things are being investigated seems fair enough. Being allowed to remain in post whilst investigations proceed, not always so good, especially when you consider the case against the government as regards allegations of assault in schools:
www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/04/families-of-child-sexual-abuse-victims-threaten-action-against-uk-government

In this case, the only really unfortunate link seems to be the loss of cabinet post and the accusations -- except ministers get reshuffled all the time for all sorts of reasons, and a 'you should stand down whilst these multiple accusations are investigated' does not seem a totally disproportionate response.................

Damn, but that 'women's lies wreck lies' meme keeps going through my head, however hard I try to push it out!

I clocked the pastoral care line too - where was the care for the women he allegedly molested? It's bloody fishy that he killed himself rather than have the case investigated, and to my mind it's much more of an admission of guilt than a sign that he was persecuted by evil lying women.

Damian Green has been forced to resign for being a lying toerag
amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-42434802

Really annoyed that the PM has admonished him for making Kate Maltby "feel uncomfortable". Stop making it somehow sound like her choice to be upset. Use the language to show Mr Green as actively doing something wrong. Theresa May coukd have said something like "inappropriate behaviour" or even "harassment".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-42434802

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43346528

I can't find any discussion of this on Mumsnet? The person who was supposed to be demonstrating leadership in Parliament on better behaviour drove a woman to PTSD?

Since 2014, when the current HR processes were introduced, no complaints raised by staff members have been escalated to formal channels, such as mediation.

This is the one area where the men close ranks as you can see from that line in the report.

I'd forgotten I started this thread....

I wonder whether anyone will do anything on the back of Mhairi Black's speech earlier in the week about sexual harassment, where she made it clear that women at Westminster who were not MPs didn't feel empowered to speak up about sexual harassment and bullying behaviour

Bercow is the holder of a pretty significant position, and importantly, he represents the House of Commons in that position, rather than the Government. I can't see that his position should be sustainable on the back of this really. The amount of discussion across the press has been disappointing so far, compared to expenses.