- The Guardian Monday 2 May 2022
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National
Politics
on this as well,” he told Sky News.
“And we haven’t seen that yet from
the Conservative party.”
Senior Tories have been pushing to
get more women MPs, but Kwarteng
said he was not “a fan of quotas” to
boost their numbers.
Speaking to LBC Radio yesterday,
the senior Labour MP Chris Bryant
said that when he was fi rst elected in
2001 he had been “regularly touched
up by older, senior gay – they weren’t
out – MPs”, adding: “I never felt I was
able to report it because you end up
being part of the story .”
The Sunday Times reported a
series of claims , including that an MP
had been accused of licking the faces
of male researchers in bars; a female
Tory MP was sent a “dick pic” by a
colleague; and another MP had been
warned about his use of sex workers.
The Commons Speaker, Lindsay
Hoyle, has suggested one way to safe-
guard staff would be to change the
system by which MPs employ staff
directly, instead doing this centrally.
He said he was considering an outside
body employing aides as he moved to
establish a “Speaker’s conference” for
MPs to discuss an overhaul.
In Rayner’s letter to Johnson, she
asked for details about a claim in
the Sunday Times that at a Downing
Street party in December 2020 one
aide was presented with a “sexist of
the year” award. Rayner also que-
ried whether this had been reported
to Sue Gray , the senior civil servant
▲ Labour’s Keir Starmer accused the
Tories of a failure of leadership amid
claims of misconduct in UK politics
PHOTOGRAPH: JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT
Minister says ‘bad apples’ to
blame as government urged
to tackle parliament sexism
inherent sexism in parliament,
arguing that problems were mainly
caused by long hours and overwork,
and that very few MPs transgressed.
“I don’t think there’s a culture of
misogyny,” he told Sky News. “I think
the problem we have is that people
are working in a really intense envi-
ronment, there are long hours and I
think generally, most people know
their limits.”
Speaking later to TimesRadio,
he said the problem was “some bad
apples”, who should be punished,
adding: “But that doesn’t mean that
the entire culture is extremely miso-
gynistic or full of male entitlement.
I don’t recognise that.”
Caroline Nokes, the Tory former
minister who chairs the Commons
women and equalities committee,
said Kwarteng’s view went against
the testimony of numerous MPs.
“Colleagues shared examples of
the aggressions and micro aggres-
sions they face every day, and it’s
being dismissed by a senior cabi-
net member as the result of working
long hours,” she said. “Once more the
experiences of women MPs are dis-
missed and belittled. That in itself
is a classic example of institutional
sexism.”
Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal
Democrat chief whip, said Kwarteng
was “deluding himself ”. She said:
“This is not a few bad apples it is a
culture that is rotten to the core .”
Keir Starmer argued that with a
series of misconduct cases, the gov-
ernment had either tried to ignore the
issue or to delay any robust action.
“ Their fi rst instinct is to push it off
into the long grass, hide what’s hap-
pening,” he said.
“That is a political problem,
because a fi sh rots from the head, and
there needs to be political leadership
▲ Neil Parish, who has resigned as a
Conservative MP after admitting he
watched pornography in parliament
investigating alleged lockdown-
breaking gatherings in parallel with
a police inquiry.
The furore over sexism in politics
kicked off a week ago with a much-
criticised Mail on Sunday story citing
unnamed Tory MPs saying Rayner
would cross and uncross her legs
during prime minister’s questions
to distract Boris Johnson. The paper
leaped to its own defence , insisting
Rayner was the source of the anec-
dote and that it had been targeted by
opponents of a free press. A Labour
source said: “The vile suggestion that
Angela Rayner initiated the sexist
smears that have been made against
her must be some kind of sick joke.”
A series of damning develop-
ments have dogged the Commons
in recent weeks. The senior Labour
MP Liam Byrne is set to be suspended
from the Commons for two days for
bullying a member of staff ; David
Warburton had the Conservative
whip withdrawn after allegations
of sexual harassment and cocaine
use emerged; and the former Tory
Imran Ahmad Khan resigned after
being convicted of sexually assault-
ing a 15-year-old boy.
Parish’s departure will pave the
way for a by-election in the Tory safe
seat of Tiverton and Honiton.
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