Britain’s opposition Labour party has been engulfed by fresh allegations of misconduct after a female MP reported a shadow minister to the Metropolitan Police over allegations that he sexually assaulted her.
The incident is alleged to have occurred after a summer party in London in July 2021, according to website Tortoise, which first revealed the claims.
The website said it had found two sources who were told about the assault by the front bench MP soon afterwards, while another shadow minister was also made aware of the allegation.
The Metropolitan Police said on Thursday that in March it had “received a report that a woman was sexually assaulted by a man in London in July 2021. At the victim’s request the incident will not now be investigated”.
Labour said its internal process were “thorough, robust and independent”.
“We take any allegations of this sort very seriously and would always encourage individuals to go to the parliamentary process, the Labour party process or the police.”
A party official added that Labour had taken no action because no complaint had been lodged.
The claims came the day after a separate report that the party took three years to investigate a complaint of sexual harassment that is understood to have been made against a senior party aide by a young woman.
The man had retained his position despite the complaint being upheld by two investigations. But after the revelations were published by the Politico news site, Labour on Thursday announced that he was no longer in the job.
After the first investigation, by the internal parliamentary complaints process, upheld the woman’s complaint, the man was instructed to write a letter of apology.
She then complained to the Labour party in 2020 and was told this month that her complaint was upheld, with a written “final warning” to the man.
“This ordeal has made me feel let down twice — by the man who chose to make me feel intimidated and vulnerable in my workplace, and by the party which appears to be content to let him keep his job,” she told Politico.
Her revelation has prompted anger among female Labour MPs, with one telling the FT: “These people get protected every single time and staff are not confident that if they go to the whips’ office they will get the support and discretion that they deserve.”
Labour MPs have been dogged by other allegations of misbehaviour with five losing the whip last year for a variety of alleged transgressions, although Labour has not disclosed the nature of all of them.
Conor McGinn, who was the party’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator until last September, was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour party in December after an undisclosed complaint. He said last week that he would not stand at the next general election.
Nick Brown, former chief whip, lost the whip last September after an unspecified allegation.
Neil Coyle lost the whip after allegations of making a racist comment to a journalist in a Commons bar, while Rupa Huq had the whip temporarily suspended for making a “racist” comment about former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. She later apologised on Twitter, describing her comments as “ill-judged”.
Christina Rees lost the whip in October after allegations of bullying constituency staff.
Investigations into Rees, Brown and McGinn are continuing. At the time, Rees said in a statement that she was “not aware of the details of the complaint” but was “fully co-operating with the investigation”, and Brown said he was “not aware” of what the complaint against was but that he was “fully co-operating” with the party’s investigation.
McGinn said at the time he was confident that the complaint was “entirely unfounded”. “I strongly reject any suggestion of wrongdoing,” he said.
The Coyle investigation has concluded but the party has not yet decided upon a course of action. On his Twitter feed Coyle previously said he was “deeply sorry” for his “offensive behaviour and language”.
Another Labour MP, Christian Matheson, quit last October after a parliamentary watchdog recommended that he be suspended for “serious sexual misconduct” after making unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances on a member of staff.
