Two No 10 employees testify to Tory MP sexual assault

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Reports are surfacing about a cabinet minister and a high-ranking aide to Boris Johnson's government who continue to work normally despite major allegations of sexual misconduct made against them. 

Read more: Johnson knew of MP's sexual misconduct when giving him party position

Two women personally testified to assaults by political figures, now in senior roles at 10 Downing Street.

The first woman, who was a former parliamentary staff member for the Tories, speaking to Sky News, revealed details of sexual assault by an MP who is now a cabinet minister. 

On The Open Secret podcast, she said: “I was sexually assaulted by someone who’s now a cabinet minister, and I was in my early 20s and didn’t really know how to deal with it. I was super drunk. He’s feeding me more wine and I’m already quite obviously tanked.

“After a while, I was like ‘you know, what, would you mind if I just went to bed?’ So I went to bed. But obviously he didn’t leave me alone. And then I woke up the next morning and I realised what had happened.”

The MP that the woman was working for encouraged her to report the incident to the police - however, upon initial discussions with the police, she chose not to go through with the report and also did not issue a formal complaint to the Conservative Party, citing that she was "too scared." 

“I was too scared to kickstart that process and risk it spiralling out of control," she said. 

One spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: “We have an established code of conduct and complaints procedure where people can report complaints in confidence. We take any complaint seriously.

“If an allegation of criminal wrongdoing is raised, we would always advise the individual to contact the police.”

The second woman, who was a former Conservative party aide working at No 10 at the time, said she was groped by a senior employee, before being appointed to a senior position. 

She asserted that she had complained multiple times about the man, yet he remained in his role. 

She said: “I heard that he was going to get a job in Downing Street. I raised it with a number of people. Nothing happened. So I then formally complained to the Cabinet Office. I just felt the responsibility to do it again, partly because the office he’s going to be working in is full of women. And I just thought he’d do it again.”

The senior employee's boss, whose name she did not mention, dismissed the allegation upon hearing it, arguing that the accused person was “good looking and had women throwing themselves at him”.

A Labour MP from Warrington North, Charlotte Nichols, told Sky News that making complaints could block job opportunities for women. According to Nichols, “In order to survive in Westminster you do have to rely on that whisper network. Ultimately. It’s never going to be 100% effective. You know, some of the most dangerous people are probably the last people that you’d ever suspect.”

She testified to her own experience as a senior MP: “I have been repeatedly propositioned by an MP who is old enough to be my grandfather and sometimes in front of other colleagues who have either laughed it off or said nothing when he’s done it.

“I know from speaking to other people that, you know, this is not uncommon behaviour for him … It’s something that he clearly feels emboldened to do, that he feels entitled to do.”

In May, a Conservative MP was detained on suspicion of severe sexual offenses, including rape. The arrest of the unnamed guy on Monday came after a two-year investigation, according to Metropolitan Police, and was connected to offenses allegedly committed between 2002 and 2009.

The arrest of the MP happened as a date was set for two byelections caused by the resignation of Conservative MPs. Former Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexually abusing a 15-year-old child, while former Tiverton MP Neil Parish confessed to accessing pornography in the House of Commons chamber.