Teresa Fitzherbert (pictured in 2015) said politicians harassed and bullied female aides – making sexual jokes and reducing women just starting out on their careers to tears.
A former Tory researcher has said she was nicknamed ‘big t***’ by an MP as she hit out at the ‘sleaze and casual sexism’ rife in Westminster.
Teresa Fitzherbert said politicians harassed and bullied female aides – making sexual jokes and reducing women just starting out on their careers to tears.
She said one woman lost her hair through stress, while another female staffer was told by an MP to take the stairs everywhere ‘because he thought she was overweight’.
Ms Fitzherbert worked for Tory MP Mark Garnier, who hit headlines after it emerged he called his secretary ‘sugar t***’ and got her to buy him a sex toy.
Ms Fitzherbert, who now works for Harper’s Bazaar, said Mr Garnier was a good and ‘thoughtful’ boss to her – but said other politicians were not.
Writing in the magazine, she said: ‘At times I found the Palace of Westminster to be a petty, gossiping, sleazy place riddled with casual sexism.
‘I would come home every day with a fresh anecdote: one MP referred to me as ‘Big T***’ behind my back; another introduced their new, male researcher as “good, but his breasts aren’t as nice as the last one’s”.’
She said hot-headed politicians would smash things in anger, criticise the appearance of their female aides and make sleazy innuendos.
Writing in Harpers Bazaar, she said: ‘A young woman was advised by her boss to take the stairs to his ministerial office because he thought that she was overweight.
‘Hot-headed MPs would break things in anger and torment their staff. I knew a girl who was losing her hair from stress and another who came to me in tears because her boss had thrown his briefcase at her.
‘One male MP asked me, “Would you rather a woman did the job or someone qualified?”
‘Male MPs were jovially referred to as ‘shaggers’, while scandalised rumours circulated about their allegedly promiscuous female counterparts.’
She said Parliament’s subsidised bars were the setting of frequent ‘drunken punch-ups’ and illicit affairs.
The former Tory researcher said one woman lost her hair through stress, while another female staffer was told by an MP to take the stairs everywhere ‘because he thought she was overweight’
Theresa May’s former deputy Damian Green and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon both lost their Cabinet jobs after they were hit by claims of sexual harassment
And she laid the blame with the fact the House of Commons is ‘dominated by middle-aged men with inflated egos and a sense of entitlement’.
Her comments will reignite concerns around the Westminster sex harassment scandal, which saw politicians across the political divide accused of inappropriate behaviour.
Mr Garnier was cleared of flouting the ministerial code after he sent his assistant out to buy a sex toy as he was not serving in Government at the time.
But Theresa May, who has vowed to crack down on the inappropriate behaviour, sacked him from the post of trade minster in her reshuffle last week.
Her deputy Damian Green and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon both lost their Cabinet jobs after they were hit by claims of sexual harassment.
While Labour MPs Ivan Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins are both facing investigations over claims they acted inappropriately.