Tories have ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual misconduct, says Oliver Dowden in face of rape cover-up claims

Published

11 months ago

November 5, 2023

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The Conservatives have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, the deputy prime minister has told Sky News after claims the party covered up for a “serial rapist” MP.

Speaking on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Oliver Dowden insisted the vast majority of people were in parliament to serve their constituents and the nation.

He urged anyone with accusations of criminality to “go straight” to the police.

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Mr Dowden was speaking after a report in the Mail On Sunday that former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry had sent a letter to police in which he revealed a number of allegations about an MP had been made known to the party, but little action had been taken.

The then top official had only become aware of the claims when he learned the party had paid for one of the alleged victims to receive treatment at a private hospital.

Sir Jake’s letter, written jointly with former chief whip Wendy Morton, another MP and a Downing Street official, also claimed the failure of others in the party to act had allowed the politician at the centre of the allegations to continue offending.

Responding to the latest revelations, Mr Dowden said: “Any allegation of sexual misconduct I take extremely seriously and the Conservative Party has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct.

“We have an independent complaints mechanism and that investigates any allegations.

“The Mail on Sunday, as far as I can tell, doesn’t contain any details of the persons involved. So there’s a limit to what can say further than that, other than say it may be the case that these matters are subject to an ongoing criminal investigation.

“So to reassure you we take any allegations exceptionally seriously.”

Pressed over whether there was a wider problem at Westminster after a series of scandals, Mr Dowden said: “No, I don’t think there’s there’s something wrong about our parliament and the vast majority of people in parliament are there to serve their constituents and to serve the nation.

“Now, in respect of a very small number of cases, it’s important robust action is taken.

“And indeed, if there are allegations, I would urge anyone to go straight to the police as a criminal matters and they should be investigated.”

It is the latest in a string of sexual misconduct claims to hit the Conservative party.

At the end of last month, senior Tory MP Crispin Blunt was suspended by the party after being arrested on suspicion of rape and the possession of controlled substances.

It came after former Conservative minister Peter Bone was suspended from the Commons for six weeks after a claim he exposed himself to a member of staff was upheld.

Chris Pincher, the former deputy chief whip, was sacked and eventually resigned after being accused of groping two men in a Tory private members’ club.

And last year, former MP Imran Ahmad Khan was jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.