How parties were criticized following complaints against MPs | Policy

Scandidacies involving MPs are not uncommon. They seem to come in batches every few years. There were the sordid allegations that rocked John Major's government in the 1990s, the #MeToo accounts in 2017 and their succession that helped bring down Boris Johnson's government in 2022.

As part of Labor's efforts to modernize Parliament, responsibility for handling some of the most serious misconduct complaints against MPs must be handed over to the independent parliamentary process. This would mean that instead of investigating internally, parties would refer complaints of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct to the Independent Complaints and Grievances System (ICGS).

Supporters say it would standardize how such cases are handled and improve trust in the process, while ensuring MPs get a fair hearing. The Guardian examines some cases where the party's internal processes failed.

John Woodcock

John Woodcock was suspended from the Labor Party in April 2018 after being accused of sending inappropriate messages to a former staffer, which he denied. At the time, Woodcock was a Labor MP and a strong critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, and he questioned the integrity of the process. He withdrew himself from the party's investigation in June and said he believed it was politically motivated, before resigning from Labor altogether in July to sit as an independent MP.

Since leaving the Commons and joining the Lords, Woodcock, now Lord Walney, said he would welcome an ICGS investigation.

Chris Pincher

Chris Pincher, then a Conservative MP, quit the whips' office after former Tory rower and activist Alex Story accused him of making unwanted passes and acting like a Harvey Weinstein deliveryman towards him in 2001. He denied the allegations and a party investigation was later closed. Pincher of wrongdoing.

In 2019, Pincher was brought back into government by Boris Johnson, as Foreign Secretary. Former FCDO permanent secretary Simon McDonald said he informed Johnson of the complaints against Pincher in that department and opened a formal investigation into them.

When Pincher faced further allegations in 2022, Downing Street denied that Johnson had any knowledge of previous complaints against him. McDonald went public with his story, sounding the death knell for Johnson's premiership.

Mike Hill

A woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by former Labor MP Mike Hill has attacked Labor's internal processes after a court ruled against him.

An employment tribunal ruled that Hill carried out a campaign of sexual harassment and intimidation against his parliamentary staffer before victimizing her when she refused his advances.

In a statement released through her lawyer, the victim said she was extraordinarily disappointed and shocked by the lack of support from the Labor Party after deciding to press charges against Hill. She later said the party only contacted me when I was speaking to the media.

Imran Ahmad Khan

In 2022, former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after making him drink gin at a party in 2008.

After the verdict was delivered, Khan's colleagues said he had a history of bullying behavior that the Conservative Party had failed to address.

Politico reported that a Conservative party member who had worked with Khan made a complaint to the party through his employer, of which the Conservatives later said they had no record. Khan declined to comment on the allegations to Politico.

Nick Brown and Conor McGinn

In September 2022, Nick Brown, former long-serving chief whip of the Labor Party, was suspended after an unspecified complaint was made against him to the party. He said he was not aware of its nature but was cooperating fully with the investigation.

A few months later, in December 2022, Conor McGinn was suspended from the Labor Party after an unspecified complaint was made against him. McGinn said at the time that he had not been given details, but was convinced the complaint was completely unfounded.

McGinn and Brown resigned from Labor before their respective investigations were completed and attacked the party's internal complaints process. Brown said the allegations against him were entirely false, without a grain of truth, and came from a political rival within the party regarding an alleged event that allegedly took place more than 25 years earlier. McGinn said the complaint against him was unfounded and had been the subject of an unclear process for more than a year. No further information about either complaint has ever been made public.