Politicians could be kicked out of Parliament if they abuse or bully their staff in a crackdown on Westminster sex pests, the Commons leader today said.
Andrea Leadsom warned MPs they will not be let off with ‘just an apology’ but will face ‘real sanctions’ if they harass their staff.
Theresa May yesterday unveiled a new beefed-up ministerial code to make clear misconduct ‘will not be tolerated’ and ordered her new Cabinet to read it.
It comes after Parliament was rocked by the sex harassment scandal which saw two of the Prime Minister’s closest colleagues ousted from the cabinet.
Former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and ex deputy PM Damian Green were forced out of Government following sex harassment claims.
Meanwhile, a new poll revealed that bullying is ‘rife’ in Westminster with one parliamentary aide complaining she felt so harassed her friends said she looked like a ‘battered wife’.
Andrea Leadsom (pictured heading into No10 yesterday) warned MPs they will not be let off with ‘just an apology’ but will face ‘real sanctions’ if they harass their staff
Mrs Leadsom, who chairs a cross-party working group looking at the ‘pestminster’ allegations, told the BBC the outcome of a complaint under the toughened up rules would ‘absolutely not just be an apology’.
She said: ‘As ever, with something like this, you want to focus on informal resolution, you want to focus on prevention, you want to focus on changing the culture.
‘However there will be real sanctions at the end of this process.
‘If it’s a Member of Parliament, then it would be a referral to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and ultimately to the Commons Committee for Standards, which has the ability to suspend Members of Parliament.
‘And there is of course then the Recall of MPs Act 2015, that itself does enable a constituency to decide to get rid of their Member of Parliament.
Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon (pictured left) and former deputy PM Damian Green (pictured right) were both forced to quit form the Cabinet after being hit by allegations of sexual misconduct
‘So that would be the ultimate sanction.’
Her tough comments come as a survey for Radio 5 Live found exposed fresh details of the harassment and abuse aides in Parliament are suffering.
Staff working for MPs hit out at the ‘sexist, laddish, misogynistic’ culture in Parliament where there was a ‘toxic’ mixture of alcohol and power.
Eighteen women and one man claimed to have been victims of sexual harassment while working in the Palace of Westminster, the poll found.
While three women, all in their 20s, and one woman in her 50s said they had been victims of sexual assault.
One claimed she had been assaulted by a former MP, another by a visitor to an MP and a third by a House of Commons employee.
But none of the victims chose to report the assaults to the authorities or police because they did not think they would be believed and feared for their jobs.
Theresa May(pictured with her new Cabinet in No10 yesterday) pledged to overhaul procedures in Parliament to give MPs staff and other workers greater protection.
One woman in her 20s said she was so bullied and harassed while working for MPs friends had told her she looked like a ‘battered wife’.
The woman said the first MP had shouted and threatened to fire her, made persistent comments about her love life and simulated hitting her while the second MP she worked for made a pass at her.
The broadcaster sent 1,500 questionnaires to staff working for MPs and received 166 responses.
Some 39 people said they had experienced bullying at Westminster, including 24 by the MP they worked for, but only a third had complained.
One man in his 30s said: ‘I felt it would look professionally incompetent and compromise the masculine environment across Westminster.’
Another in his 20s said: ‘The nature of Parliament means if one complains about their MP’s behaviour your job is gone.’
But other members of staff were more positive about the experience of working at Westminster, describing it as ‘courteous’, ‘respectful’ and ‘fascinating’.
‘It’s not the den of sexual depravity the media want it to be,’ one said.
Another responded that ‘all the MPs I’ve met have been delightful’ and ‘this sexual harassment witch hunt is ridiculous’.