Commons worker reveals shocking abuse by MP who takes ‘great joy’ in stroking female staff
The revelations lay bare the abuse, bullying and mistreatment junior workers endure daily in Westminster
A COMMONS employee has revealed further shocking revelations about working life in Westminster including one MP who takes “great joy” in intimidating junior female staff by stroking their hair and touching their backs.
The staff member’s first person account lays bare the abuse, bullying and mistreatment junior workers endure daily in Westminster.
She said “dealing with abuse is just part of the job”.
Katie - not her real name and who has worked in the Commons for two years - told BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: “I think there’s a kind of unspoken hierarchy between staff, [and that] whatever an MP says, goes”.
She said: “It’s very much seen that Members are the priority, and everyone is there to serve their interests.
“Quite often, members of staff that I know have gone to their managers to ask for advice and are just told to ignore it and carry on going”, and that, “it’s not worth the hassle.
“In any kind of dispute like that, an MP would have the upper hand anyway.”
Katie told how one male MP is renowned among staff for taking “great joy” in intimidating junior female members of staff, by stroking their hair and touching their lower back and shoulders - as though it is a “game”.
She told the programme that as far as she is aware no-one has complained about him because staff felt “it wasn’t their place to say anything”.
She also revealed how one senior civil servant shouted in her face and called her stupid.
She said: “I could almost feel, kind of like the spit landing on my face he was so angry… I’d only been in the job a few months and it was so overwhelming, scary that I just didn’t know how to deal with it.”
On one occasion she claims a Peer in the House of Lords once asked her if she “even knew what Brexit was”.
And on another an MP said to her, “Don’t you know who I am?” when she suggested he should wear his Parliamentary security pass - compulsory for all staff.
Katie said she believed John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons - whose job it is to now reform the culture in Parliament - should resign.
He has denied allegations of bullying.
But she added: “How can anyone have confidence in a system that’s being developed by people who’ve been accused of such actions themselves?”
“The kind of constant bullying, driving people out of their jobs - it’s horrendous, it’s not just ‘bad behaviour’.
“It’s creating a workplace that’s intolerable and where people are completely susceptible to abuse with no recourse for action.
“I think the idea of hierarchy is ingrained in all members of staff from day one.
“You learn that you’re there to serve MPs, but that also means to not challenge them as well.
“And so when this kind of behaviour is going on, that attitude still applies.
“That attitude of not saying anything for fear of getting into trouble yourself or not being taken seriously is just pervasive, I would say.”
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It comes as a fresh probe into bullying and harassment is set to be launched this week by Commons leader Andrea Leadsom.
She told the Victoria Derbyshire programme she was “determined” that historic allegations should be both investigated and acted upon.
And she said she backed independent “sanctioning of Members of Parliament”.
It follows a damning report by former judge Dame Laura Cox which examined 200 allegations of groping, intimidation and harassment by Parliamentary officials.
The new probe is expected to examine hundreds of allegations against MPs from past and present staff.
A House of Commons spokesperson said it was “committed to a robust effort to change the culture which has tolerated such abuses.
They said: “The staff of the House of Commons are essential to the functioning of democracy. We deeply regret that their diligence has at times been so poorly repaid.”
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