Q

MAKE A DONATION

Donation amount
Q

Sign up to the Bow Group Mailing List

* indicates required



Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

We Need an Independent Body to Deal with Misconduct Complaints Covering Parliament and Political Parties

May 1, 2022 | Broadcast Media, News | 0 comments

There needs to be an independent body that deals with misconduct allegations covering Parliament and political parties, handling complaints taking place inside and outside of the parliamentary estate, proposed Bow Group chairman Ben Harris-Quinney.

The Bow Group chairman made the remarks in response to Conservative MP Neil Parish announcing his resignation after he admitted to watching pornography in the House of Commons.

Ben Harris-Quinney told GB News: “This is set in the wider context of 56 MPs currently being investigated for some kind of sexual misconduct. That figure is just under 10 per cent of the whole of the House of Commons, and about 50 times higher than the national average.

“So there is clearly something going on in Parliament that marks it apart from the average workplace and the average community. Parliament hasn’t moved in step with the rest of the country, and clearly something needs to be done to arrest that.”

The Bow Group chairman added that individual cases of sexual misconduct, such as that of Mr Parish, is indicative of a wider problem in British politics, rather than him being the centre of any problem.

Recalling his involvement in exposing the 2015 Tatler Tory scandal, Mr Harris-Quinney said that an issue with dealing with some misconduct allegations stemmed from the incidents taking place outside of the Parliamentary estate.

He said: “One of the problems was that a lot of the misbehaviour was occurring outside of the walls of Parliament. That would be the same as in Imran Ahmad Khan case, for example, where he was engaged in sexual assault of a minor, but it was going on outside of Parliament and therefore the Parliamentary authorities wouldn’t have jurisdiction over it.”

Mr Harris-Quinney said that a solution would be the formation of a “catch-all, independent body that would include an ombudsman” where staff could go to make complaints, without “any fear of reprisal in doing so”.

The Bow Group chairman continued that “it also needs to cover political organisations, like the Conservative Party, like the Labour Party, as well as MPs so it can deal with issues that go on in politics but which occur outside the buildings of Parliament itself.”

Harris-Quiney added that it should cover what is going on in MPs’ constituencies and also allow for other organisations allied to the field of politics to sign up to the body.

“There needs to be a recognition that this is a political problem as much as it is a House of Commons problem,” Harris-Quinney said.

The Bow Group is not funded by special interest groups and we are beholden to no government or party.  We are grassroots funded, and your donations make a huge difference to our ability to continue our work. Click to support us, or join us.