The Sunday Times reported a series of claims, including that one MP was accused of licking the faces of male researchers in bars that a female Tory MP was sent a “dick pic” by a colleague and that another MP had been warned about his use of sex workers. Speaking to LBC radio on Sunday, the senior Labour MP Chris Bryant said that when he was first elected in 2001 he was “regularly touched up by older, senior gay – they weren’t out – MPs”, adding: “I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, that’s the last thing you want.” Senior Tories have been pushing to get more female MPs, but Kwarteng said he is not “a fan of quotas” to boost their numbers. “And we haven’t seen that yet from the Conservative party.” “That is a political problem, because a fish rots from the head, and there needs to be political leadership on this as well,” he told Sky News. Keir Starmer argued that with a series of misconduct cases, the government had either tried to ignore the issue or to delay any robust action, saying “their first instinct is to push it off into the long grass, hide what’s happening”. In the same week that two of his MPs resigned and his female colleagues complained, the worst thing he can do is trivialise and dismiss this.” She said: “This is not a few bad apples, it is a culture that is rotten to the core. Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, said Kwarteng was “deluding himself”. That in itself is a classic example of institutional sexism.” “Once more the experiences of female MPs are dismissed and belittled. “Colleagues shared examples of the aggressions and microaggressions they face every day, and it’s being dismissed by a senior cabinet member as the result of working long hours,” she said. I don’t recognise that.”Ĭaroline Nokes, the Tory former minister who chairs the women and equalities committee, said Kwarteng’s view went against the testimony of numerous MPs.
Speaking later to Times Radio, he said the problem was “some bad apples”, who should be punished, adding: “But that doesn’t mean that the entire culture is extremely misogynistic or full of male entitlement. “I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment, there are long hours and I think generally, most people know their limits.” “I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny,” he told Sky News. Kwarteng, the business secretary, faced significant criticism after rejecting the idea of inherent sexism in parliament, arguing that problems were mainly caused by long hours and overwork, and that very few MPs transgressed. Labour warned that a toxic culture in Westminster was exacerbated by inaction from Downing Street, while its deputy leader, Angela Rayner, wrote to Boris Johnson about reports that one No 10 Christmas party saw a ‘sexist of the year’ award handed out.