The culture of misogyny and harassment in parliament has been exacerbated by repeated attempts by the government to postpone disciplinary action against misbehaving Tory MPs, Keir Starmer argued, saying “fish are rotting in the head”.
Starmer said the real change must be “led and modeled from the top” when asked about new allegations of abuse and sexualized behavior by lawmakers following the resignation of Conservative Judge Neil Parish to watch pornography in the House of Commons.
The Labor leader said that the instinct of Downing Street in a series of previous cases of misconduct was either to try to ignore the problem or to postpone any stable action.
“What we see from this government, over and over again, is when someone of their own gets into trouble, in trouble, they’ve done something they shouldn’t have done, whether it’s Owen Patterson or whether he’s an MP. from Wakefield [Imran Ahmad Khan]or Neil Parish, their first instinct is to push him into the long grass, to hide what’s going on, “Starmer told Sophie Ridge of Sky on Sunday’s show.
“This is a political problem because the fish is rotting from the head and there must be political leadership in this as well. And we haven’t seen that from the Conservative Party yet.
Speaking earlier in the show, Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, dismissed the idea that there was a broader question about standards in Westminster.
“I don’t think there is a culture of misogyny,” he said. “I think the problem we have is that people work in a really intense environment. There are long hours and I think that in general most people know their limits, they know how to act with respect.
“But there are some cases where people, frankly, don’t act to the highest standards.”
Starmer dismissed this, saying: “Those who engage in this type of activity, whether it’s commenting on Angela Raynor or watching porn in the House of Commons, must take responsibility.
However, neither Starmer nor Quarteng had any concrete proposals on how things could be improved, other than agreeing that one possibility could be President Lindsay Hoyle’s proposal to end the current system of recruiting staff. directly.
Quarteng rejected the idea of shortlists for women to improve the gender balance of conservative lawmakers, saying he had “never been a fan of quotas”.
He also rejected the idea of closing bars in parliament: “No, not everyone should be closed, I don’t think we should have an overly puritanical regime in this regard.”
Also on the Ridge show, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davy said that in addition to considering Hoyle’s idea of hiring MPs, the existing independent complaints system for lawmakers needs to be speeded up.
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Hoyle’s idea will mark a significant change in Westminster work practices.
Writing in the Observer, Hoyle said: “I believe it is time to review our work practices, and in particular whether it is right for individual MEPs to be employers of their staff. Should someone else – or an external body – hire staff, as long as the MP has the right to elect them?
“In my opinion, it is time to consider radical action and reconsider structures and processes that could make a difference. Some serious allegations have been made and we need to address them urgently. It is imperative that we do the right thing by both the staff and the deputies. “
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