Politics

Sexual harassment can't be handled by the usual Westminster rumour-mill

If Theresa May wants to show she is taking the issue seriously, she needs to put proper structures in place—and fast

November 02, 2017
Michael Fallon has resigned from his ministerial position. Photo: PA
Michael Fallon has resigned from his ministerial position. Photo: PA

“The first casualty,” was how one BBC broadcast described Michael Fallon’s resignation. The former defence minister stepped down from his post following allegations of inappropriate behaviour with women, saying that his past behaviour may not have measured up to the standards set by the armed forces.

“Casualty” is a curious way of describing Fallon, hinting not only at the idea that a man whose own behaviour forces him to step down from a cabinet job has been wounded, but also that this might be first of many careers affected before Westminster’s harassment scandal has finished purging its secrets. There was, too, a hint of the lobby’s love of gossip: far from dreading the ensuing reshuffle, quite a few hacks rather enjoyed it, especially since it was instigated by a good scalping.

This, it seems, is part of the problem. After the much-rumoured list of Tory indiscretions was finally tweeted by an anonymous account on Wednesday, it became clear that the compilers had happily lumped together some truly upsetting allegations—including a woman whose harasser had forced her to have an abortion—with any sort of sexual indiscretion that strayed from a (very limited) idea of “normal.”

As Megan Nolan wrote in Vice, some of the items relied on ideas about sex that were at best blinkered—in the worst cases, downright homophobic. Not that that deterred some on Twitter, who went for the hashtag #Sleaze36 to refer collectively to those named.

Including the puritanical alongside the abusive may make sense in terms of good gossip—the list was discussed in some quarters with the same gleeful salaciousness that also prompts the word “casualty”—but it does nothing for the alleged victims.

This is not to say, however, that backchannels and rumours don’t have their place. The sudden interest in women’s informal organising is enough to show that—although the women I know regard the idea that spreadsheets and WhatsApp groups constitute a new technological witch-hunt, rather than simply a digital version of the sort of conversation previously conducted in the ladies’ loos, very amusing.

That, of course, is quite aside from the frankly laughable irony of politicos suddenly urging a crackdown on unverified gossip, as if none of us has ever cocked an ear in a Westminster bar.

The problem for some men is not that people talk, but that suddenly the rumours have started hurting the wrong guys. Indeed, it is exactly this which seems to have unnerved Fallon, who said that “he found the stress of waiting for someone to make a complaint debilitating.”

For everyone else, the problem is that rumours aren’t enough. As I wrote last week following the allegations against Labour MP Jared O’Mara, the question that comes after “what do we know?” will be “who knew it—and when?”

The biggest risk to the Tory party now is not only that there are more revelations to come (and I am confident in saying there are), but that it will become clear that the party had failed to act in the past. In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Lisa Nandy claimed Theresa May had been warned three times that party whips were using sex abuse to control their MPs.

Well, now the cock’s crowed, and it’s up to May to put the systems in place that will ensure future incidents are dealt with properly.

As Anoosh Chakelian wrote over at the New Statesman, one of the problems here is that parliament does not have an HR system; instead, it has the whips, who, although they are some of the most knowledgable sources in the Palace of Westminster, are obviously invested in protecting their party’s reputation. Even then, women who go to the whips can face a backlash; as was the case when journalist Isabel Hardman reported a sexist comment last year.

Add to that the fact that SpAds and aides’ only line manager could feasibly be the very MP who harassed them—and on whose reference their next job stands or falls—and the problem becomes clear.

Just as abuse is not party political, we must make sure that any solution is independent—and, crucially, doesn’t require victims to go public to work. (One only has to glance at the hit piece on Kate Maltby in today’s Daily Mail to see the risk to a woman’s reputation if she dares suggest that she has been anything less than a perfect victim.)

Westminster runs on gossip, but assault is not gossip-fodder. It should be dealt with discretely, professionally, and not lumped in with the titillating proceeds of crude muck-raking. If May is serious about tackling the problem, it behoves her to prioritise putting third-party structures in place.

As for Fallon, well, I certainly won’t be using the word “casualty.” But I will say this: don’t let the door hit your wandering hands on the way out.