Labour MP Rupa Huq: I was sexually harassed by MEP in my 20s
Labour's Rupa Huq says a male MEP's "slithering hands found their way onto me" when she worked in the European Parliament.
Monday 30 October 2017 15:38, UK
A Labour MP has told Sky News she was sexually harassed when she was in her 20s by a male MEP at the European Parliament.
Rupa Huq spoke out as in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour involving MPs and ministers.
The Ealing Central and Acton MP told Sky News the incident happened in the 1990s when she was a post-graduate student.
Ms Huq said the MEP's "wandering hands found their way onto me, which I did not like and I did not do anything about because it was such an imbalanced power relation".
She added: "It shocked me when I felt these hands slithering towards me and I think I was quite startled more than anything else, and I can't believe I'm the only person he did that to, to be honest."
Mrs May has offered to hold talks with Speaker John Bercow as part of her response to the scandal engulfing Westminster.
The PM has called for a binding code of conduct for MPs after international trade minister Mark Garnier .
She said the House of Commons "must now go further" than the 24/7 confidential hotline already in place for parliamentary staff and raised the prospect of a code of conduct with "legal standing" as well as "a contractually binding grievance procedure available for all MPs".
It has since emerged that Conservative MPs resisted a bid by former PM David Cameron to get them to sign up to a code of conduct voluntarily back in 2014.
The move was resisted by the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, with chairman Graham Brady telling the Evening Standard: "The point made was that this should be an issue for all political parties, not just one."
Dawn Butler, Labour's spokeswoman for women and equalities, has welcomed Mrs May's letter to Mr Bercow and called on the PM to cast aside party politics to put an end to "a culture that has tolerated or made light of abuse for far too long".
Ms Butler called for all parties to make their complaints procedures public.
The scandal broke last week when it was revealed female members of staff in Westminster use WhatsApp to warn each other about "sex pest" MPs from all parties.
In a weekend of revelations, the Guido Fawkes website reported that Tory aides have compiled a list of 36 Conservative MPs, including 20 ministers, who are
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph said a list of 13 MPs facing harassment allegations has been circulating.