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LONDON — The U.K. Labour Party has been plunged into a reckoning over internal processes after a series of sexual misconduct allegations against senior figures.
The revelation of sexual harassment allegations against the long-serving MP Geraint Davies, which resulted in his suspension Thursday, prompted dismay and recriminations across the party.
The Labour MP Rosie Duffield wrote in a WhatsApp chat with other Labour women that she was “bloody sick” of scandals affecting the party, saying: “We have to wait for young women staffers to report and make official complaints before any action is ever taken.”
Her colleague Charlotte Nichols said she was given a list of “about 30 names” of men to stay clear of when she first entered parliament at the 2019 general election. She told Times Radio: “[T]rying to make sure that you’re never alone with them in order to try to minimize the risk to your personal safety is something that just shouldn’t be an accepted or normal part of any workplace.”
After POLITICO reported that five women accused Davies of subjecting them to unwanted sexual attention, a sixth woman lodged an official complaint against him.
Speaking of the latest disclosures, Nichols added: “The saddest about it is that I’m not surprised, not least because it is a name that has been shared previously … This is something that just comes up time and time and time again and every time it happens, it’s spoken about as one bad apple and this system carries on.
“The complaints processes continue to not be robust enough to deal with it and the culture in Westminster remains unaddressed. In a few weeks’ time, it’ll be someone else and nothing ever seems to get done. It’s just bleak, frankly. “
Two more MPs who did not want to be named said women in the party had long warned each other about Davies’ alleged behavior but there had been institutional inertia when it came to confronting it.
Their accounts add to those of others who claim Labour whips have been aware of concerns about Davies’ conduct for several years.
Davies said in a statement responding to the initial story that he did not “recognize” the allegations, adding: “If I have inadvertently caused offence to anyone, then I am naturally sorry.”
Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chair, defended the party’s processes to colleagues and assured them misconduct claims were being taken extremely seriously, according to two Labour MPs.
Labour officials said Dodds was pivotal in ensuring that the party adopted a new, independent complaints process and she has listened to concerns from staff about Labour’s internal processes.
Another senior Labour parliamentarian said “I do think that we’ve got it wrong in the past as a party,” but added that the system was now “doing what it should do.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party treats complaints of sexual harassment and abuse with the utmost seriousness and takes action in response to every complaint.” An official speaking on the condition of anonymously stressed that the whips, who are responsible for party discipline, would encourage anyone raising informal concerns to make a formal complaint.
Labour bosses have launched a review of the party’s complaints system, which David Evans, the party’s general secretary, told staff had been triggered by both POLITICO’s recent reporting on a Labour aide accused of sexual harassment and claims of misconduct against a shadow minister reported by Tortoise.
Evans is working with a team drawn from the party’s senior leadership to move forward as “quickly as possible,” he said in an email to employees.
Jenny Symmons, chair of the GMB trade union branch representing staff, said the allegations against Davies highlighted the need for “cluster reporting” — the ability to link reports of multiple complaints made by different people about the same person — in parliament’s grievance scheme.
Davies was first elected in Croydon Central in 1997 and has represented Swansea West since 2010, serving on the Welsh affairs and environment select committees.
The MP’s alleged behavior appears to have been an open secret in certain parts of the Labour Party, but insiders had stressed the difficulty of taking action in the absence of a formal complaint.
