Labour MP Keith Vaz accused of bullying House of Commons clerk
3 min read
A former House of Commons clerk has accused Labour MP Keith Vaz of bullying her.
Jenny McCullough alleges that she was repeatedly subjected to bullying by the Labour MP, but that House of Commons management failed to intervene.
The former clerk told BBC Newsnight that during Mr Vaz's time as chair of the Home Affairs Committee, he repeatedly undermined her as clerk, and said she was bad at her job because she was “not a mother".
Ms McCullough alleges that the Labour MP also launched into a tirade after she confronted him over an "opulent" unscheduled dinner during a trip to Kiev in 2008.
"He told me that I wasn’t capable of serving the committee because I wasn’t a mother," she said.
The ex-Commons staffer added: "All I knew was, it wasn’t normal to be harangued about my fertility status in the reception of a hotel room, at public expense, in front of my colleague on the team."
The former Commons clerk also accused Mr Vaz of making jokes about her being a potential security threat due to her Northern Irish background.
Other clerks meanwhile told the programme that the Labour MP was prone to bullying and that Ms McCullogh’s accusations fit into a pattern of behaviour displayed by Mr Vaz, who has denied the allegations.
The Leicester East MP was forced to step down from the Home Affairs Committee in 2016 and placed under inquiry by Commons management after a newspaper claimed that he had hired prostitutes and offered to buy them drugs.
A representative for Mr Vaz denied that the MP had ever bullied Commons staff.
"No complaint or allegation of this nature has ever been brought to his attention," they said.
"Our client had considered that he and Ms McCullough had previously had a good working relationship, and had always considered her to be very effective as a clerk."
'STOOD HER GROUND'
Ms McCulloch also said she raised the issue with House of Commons management in a yearly appraisal, but that no action was taken.
In 2008, her annual appraisal noted that she had "excellent relations with Home Office officials and other witnesses, and with all the committee apart from the chairman, who chose to bully her".
It added: "Jenny understandably and properly stood her ground, which the chairman resented."
But Ms McCulloch told Newsnight she felt unable to formally report the Labour MP because she was “afraid of him” due to his friends in the police and legal profession.
She added: "He said that one of the principal clerks was a friend and by the time I was leaving the house he had a friend in the Speaker. I thought it could only end badly for me."
A House of Commons spokesperson said: "We are aware that in the past the House has not had a robust process in place to deal with instances of bullying and harassment.
"We are confident that our new Independent Complaints and Grievance Policy will mean that allegations can be dealt with effectively and sensitively."
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