AG百家乐在线官网

A former House of Commons employee has told Sky News how she suffers from post-traumatic stress after being bullied, harassed and assaulted by an MP while working in Westminster.

Lisette Whittaker, who worked as a Commons' committee assistant, said her experience has left her angry about how officials failed to protect her.

She spoke ahead of Wednesday's meeting of the House of Commons Commission, where officials will discuss a damning independent inquiry into allegations of widespread bullying and harassment at Westminster.

The report by Dame Laura Cox has piled pressure on senior Commons figures, including Speaker John Bercow, after she judged it would be "extremely difficult" for the current administration to bring about necessary changes.

Mr Bercow, who has signalled an intent to remain in his role until next summer, has denied bullying allegations directed against him personally.

On Tuesday, three MPs quit a committee chaired by Mr Bercow in the light of Dame Cox's report.

Ms Whittaker was this week among dozens of current and ex-parliamentary staff to waive their right to anonymity to sign an open letter demanding urgent change.

Speaking to Sky News in her first TV interview, an emotional Ms Whittaker described how she experienced "low-level harassment" as soon as she began her Westminster career in the early 1990s.

She said: "I joined the European Scrutiny Committee and people would make comments when I walked into the cafeteria about 'Here come the Euro babes'. I was only 19 at the time and it was quite off-putting.

"An MP jumped into a lift with me on my second or third day and said he'd be really happy to show me around all the bars. It was just this low-level stuff that felt like it was all the time."

After a short period of working in parliament, Ms Whittaker was then assaulted by an MP but, she revealed, it was "brushed under the carpet" and "made out that it was a minor incident".

"There was no HR process, there was no HR structure," she added.

"I told my manager [but] I also had some issues with him, he used to shout at me quite a lot.

"Our offices were next door to each other and, rather than pick the phone up and ask me to go in, or come in and see me, he would just shout my name until I came in.

"On one occasion I went in and he said 'I just wanted to tell you that's a really nice dress you've got on'."

Ms Whittaker revealed she was left to feel "very vulnerable" and "very exposed" but also that she "just needed to toughen up a bit" as there was a sense of having to "suck it up".

"You were made to feel you needed to be resilient if you wanted to get on in that organisation," she said. "Obviously, that is not the definition of resilient, putting up with that kind of behaviour."

The MP in question, who has since left parliament, then "went on to stalk me for years and nothing was done about it", Ms Whittaker added.

She said: "It was awful, I used to hide. He worked in the same building as me, on the same floor actually, so if I saw him I would make a beeline for the loo or I would hide.

"He would make a beeline for me in the staff cafeteria, he would come and sit with me."

Ms Whittaker has since gone to the police about the assault after speaking with current Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom.

She said she felt she had "no choice" but to leave her job because - despite being "passionate" about her work - she "couldn't cope with it any longer".

Describing the effect on her now, which brought her close to tears, Ms Whittaker said: "I struggle, I've been diagnosed with PTSD, I have sleepless nights."

She added: "I have good days and bad days. I hadn't realised how affected I was until I recently started talking about it.

"There are some things that happened to me that I still haven't really talked about properly. It wasn't just a handful of cases, it was a relentless battle actually.

"I am still struggling with that and coming to terms with the fact that - I don't like to use the word victim because I don't feel like I'm a victim - but things happened to me that shouldn't have happened.

"I should have been looked after and protected and I wasn't and I'm angry about that."

Ms Whittaker wants historical cases of harassment and bullying in Westminster to be investigated.

Asked whether Mr Bercow or other senior Commons officials should resign, Ms Whittaker added: "These are very intellectual, clever people.

"They're perfectly capable of looking at themselves in a more subjective way and asking themselves the question 'am I right? Have I done everything I should have done? Could I do more? What should I do?'.

"And just be honest with themselves."

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who sits on the Commons commission - which oversees the running of the Commons - told Sky News he would be arguing for the acceptance of Dame Cox's recommendations.

He added he would be "surprised and disappointed" if they were not.

Labour is backing the recommendations of the report.