Ruth Davidson says the 'dam has broken' on sexual misconduct and calls for a 'clearout'
3 min read
Ruth Davidson has said the “dam has broken” and it is time to clean up politics in the wake of the Westminster sex abuse scandal.
Speaking after the shock resignation of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon last night, the Scottish Conservatives leader said the “boys’ locker room culture” in politics had to stop.
Ms Davidson told the audience at the Spectator’s Politician of the year awards: “Just because we have a woman in No 10, at the top of the tree in Plaid Cymru, in the Scottish Conservatives, in the SNP, in the DUP, doesn’t mean that sexism and misogyny are somehow resigned to the dustbin of history when it comes to politics.
“Nor when we look at some of the house-clearing that is going to - and needs to - happen in the next few weeks and years ahead, are we going to say we don't need some pretty big shovels for the ageing stable.”
Asked by the Today programme what should be done in the wake of numerous allegations of abuse and harassment by MPs, she said: “The dam has broken on this now and these overwhelmingly male-dominated professions where the boys’ locker room culture has prevailed and it’s all been a bit of a laugh has got to stop.”
Ms Davidson also mooted the creation of a new code of conduct for those in political life to deal with the “grey area” between illegal abuse and professional misconduct.
She said people should “have a duty to hold themselves and the organisations which they work for,” to “a transparent set of rules to which everyone must be held.”
The intervention comes after Mr Fallon sensationally quit his Cabinet post yesterday, telling the Prime Minister his conduct had “fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces”.
It came just a day after he apologised for touching journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer’s knee at a dinner in 2002, but friends last night suggested the incident may not be the only reason for his departure.
The resignation is just the latest revelation in an ongoing scandal which has cast doubt of the conduct of some MPs and other political figures over recent days and plunged Westminster into turmoil.
First Secretary of State Damian Green became embroiled in the row yesterday, when he was accused of touching a young activist’s knee and sending her “suggestive” texts.
Meanwhile, a Labour party activist claimed she was raped at a party event in 2011 but an official told her to keep quiet or risk harming her career.
Similarly, an ex-Lib Dem activist recounted how she was told to canvass for a man who "touched her up" to avoid damaging her career.
Some who have been outed as being on a list documenting alleged misdemeanours have hit back, branding the document “a form of harassment and intimidation” in itself.
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