Labour has defended its complaints system after taking three years to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment made by a woman against a senior aide. The man, who is 20 years the complainant’s senior, has been allowed to continue working for the party advising a Labour frontbencher, according to Politico, even though the complaint was upheld. Keir Starmer’s spokesperson has insisted that the party leader takes a “zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment” and is “confident the process is independent, thorough and robust”. However, some Labour MPs are uneasy that the party’s independent process has allowed a senior male aide back into his role even though he was sanctioned.
He is alleged to have groped the woman when she was in her 20s and working as an intern. She launched a complaint using the internal process available at the time. After the complaint was upheld, the man was told to write a letter of apology and no further action was taken. She then complained about his conduct to the Labour party in early 2020. But after a year passed with no outcome, the party said it had no record of responding to her complaint and asked her to confirm if she wanted to continue with it. This month, she was told her complaint had been upheld again and that the man, who remains an adviser to a Labour frontbencher, will receive a “final warning”. Starmer’s spokesperson refused to speculate on whether senior party officials knew who the complainant was or what the circumstances of the complaint were.
In response to questions on the speed of the process, the Labour leader’s spokesperson added: “There are a range of factors as to why these processes can take time, down to the level of cooperation from the person … the allegation is being made against. “Or there can be cases where the complainant may want to take the case at a certain pace, given their experience. We should respect that and allow the case to be taken at a pace that is appropriate to the circumstance.” The former intern told Politico she feels “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 and risk other young women facing the same experience”. Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP for Warrington North, told the Guardian: “Zero tolerance should mean zero tolerance. What safeguarding measures have been put in place to ensure everyone working with this aide remains safe, including potential interns? “This example raises questions on why someone would be satisfied having someone like this working for them.” Another senior female MP said the system was “very complicated because the party doesn’t oversee who MPs decide to employ, and the party doesn’t have the jurisdiction to sanction the MP’s aide”. Rosie Duffield, Labour’s MP for Canterbury, tweeted: “This is not OK. And I expect to hear it loudly condemned by my colleagues and leader Keir Starmer.” Claire Reynolds, the director of Labour Women’s Network, has acknowledged that the party’s complaints system has made huge strides in recent years. She told the Guardian: “What it isn’t is ‘independent’; there is independent advice, but decisions continue to be made by Labour party members, who of course have their own relationships and politics, although decent training is now in place. “LWN believes women will only have full confidence in a wholly independent system from first contact to final outcome.”