The IEP could recommend sanctions including expulsion from the Commons or a suspension – which could potentially trigger a by-election under the recall process if it is for longer than 10 sitting days. In a serious case like this a sanction would normally be decided by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which would also hear any appeal. Under the ICGS, an investigator would examine the case and Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone would then make a finding. “Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation the chief whip will take appropriate action.” A spokeswoman for Mr Heaton-Harris said: “Following allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the House of Commons, the chief whip has asked that this matter be referred to the ICGS. Mr Heaton-Harris called for the independent investigation after the porn-watching allegations surfaced during a meeting of Tory MPs at Westminster on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Prime Minister described the porn-watching allegations as “totally unacceptable”.ĭuring a visit to Burnley, Mr Johnson told broadcasters: “What needs to happen now is that the proper procedures need to be gone through, the independent complaints and grievances procedure needs to be activated and we need to get to understand the facts but, yeah, that kind of behaviour is clearly totally unacceptable.” The charge levelled against the unnamed Tory is set to be examined under Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which investigates allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct. She also said she is confident that chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris will “take a decision that’s appropriate”. “I haven’t had the chance to talk to the chief whip, and I know the ladies in question who apparently saw this completely, completely inappropriate activity have been encouraged to use the formal system in the House of Commons to be able to report it, and I hope very much that they will or indeed have, I don’t know, and that the system will demonstrate if that was the case, exactly what the punishment should be for that sort of inappropriate behaviour.” The Houses of Parliament (Image: Getty Images)
Ms Trevelyan described the claims as “completely unacceptable”, but declined to say whether the unnamed Conservative MP should be sacked and denied that her party specifically has a misogyny problem. It comes as Boris Johnson comes under growing pressure to remove the whip from a Tory MP accused of watching pornography in the Commons chamber and as a growing chorus of senior ministers hit out at Westminster’s “shameful” culture. Ms Trevelyan added: “But there are a few for whom too much drink, or indeed a sort of, a view that somehow being elected makes them, you know, God’s gift to women, that they can suddenly please themselves, that is never OK, that kind of behaviour, disrespect for women.” She said the vast majority of her male colleagues are “delightful” and “committed parliamentarians”.
On Sky News, the Trade Secretary told male colleagues to “keep your hands in your pockets and behave as you would if you had your daughter in the room”. Ms Trevelyan added she had been subjected to “wandering hands” by “half a dozen” men in Westminster, some of whom were “repeat offenders”. “These sorts of things, these power abuses, that a very small minority, thank goodness, of male colleagues show is completely unacceptable”. We might describe it as wandering hands, if you like, we might describe it as, you know, a number of years ago being pinned up against a wall by a male MP who is now no longer in the House, I’m pleased to say, declaring that I must want him because he was a powerful man. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told LBC Radio: “I’ve witnessed and been at the sharp end of misogyny from some colleagues many times over. The comments come amid renewed accusations of misogyny and sexual misconduct in Parliament. A female Cabinet minister has said she was once “pinned up against a wall” by a male MP as she told colleagues to “keep your hands in your pockets”.