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Senior female Labour officials have criticised the party leadership after two former members of staff said they were asked to sign confidentiality agreements after making complaints of sexual harassment.
Laura Murray and Georgie Robertson told the BBC they had raised concerns about the behaviour of a senior official.
Documents seen by the corporation show the women had reported the party official for “inappropriate” and “possessive” behaviour.
The man was temporarily suspended and strongly denied the allegations.
Murray was Labour’s head of complaints and Robertson was a party press officer when they made their complaints in March, 2020.
Both women refused to sign the legal agreements and resigned from their roles without payouts.
Their lawyer, Mark Stephens, said the proposed contract violated the equality watchdog’s guidance and Labour’s own policy on non-disclosure agreements.
Describing the man’s alleged behaviour, Murray told the BBC: “It was really, really obsessive levels of communication.
“And because I was more junior, I didn’t really know how to protect myself.”
Robertson said the man had pressured her to go to drinks with him.
She said: “After rebuffing his advances, he then started to spread false rumours that I was sleeping with a married man at work.”
The pair resigned after Labour party lawyers asked them to sign a settlement agreement with a broad confidentiality clause, according to the BBC.
Robertson said: “I refused to accept that and to be silenced. It could encourage the party to use those agreements in future with other women who’d been harassed.”
In a statement issued today, 12 women who are either members of Labour’s national women’s committee or its ruling national executive committee, said the party’s own code of conduct made clear “every person has the right to report sexual harassment and have their complaint investigated”
In a statement, they said: “We are therefore appalled to see these reports about mistreatment and sexual harassment of women working for the party.
“We can’t fight to end sexual harassment in society if we don’t also address it within our party.
“Trying to persuade women to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to cover up abuse is a gross betrayal of Labour values and we call on our leadership to acknowledge its duty of care and its responsibility towards all women within the party, members and staffers and to end this practice, apologise to any women caught up in this victimisation and seek to offer them redress.”
A Labour source insisted the party does not use NDAs that would stop anyone speaking out about sexual harassment.
A party spokesperson said: “The Labour party takes any complaints of sexual harassment extremely seriously, which are fully investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken in line with the party’s rules and procedures.”
Source: Huff Post
