Today, Parliament benches on all sides were furious at the Conservative government, which is embroiled in yet another sexual harassment scandal involving ‘The President’s Club Dinner’. Shadow Secretary of State for Education Angela Rayner took the Tories to task for yet another example of Tory sleaze:
“I hope the Secretary of State for Education is as disappointed as I am at both a Tory board member and a Tory Minister in this Education department attending this event, which described itself as ‘the most un PC event of the year’. Let’s be clear about what that meant:
an event where women were not invited to attend as guests, but were invited as objects of the rich and powerful men.
The women were forced to wear revealing clothes, and a number of these women have reported that they were groped & sexually harassed.
Can the Secretary of State for Education also make clear that, like me, he believes those women – and that the events reported are totally unacceptable?
I agree that organising this kind of event should not be acceptable for any official, let alone a member of the board of the Education Department.
I welcome also the fact that David Meller is standing down, and he should not have any other roles in the Department of Education.
Will the Secretary of State also investigate the attendance of the Minister for Children? Can he confirm reports that he attended previous events and was invited personally by David Mellor this year?
His department is responsible for the safeguarding millions of children, and caring for victims of child exploitation, for tackling sexual harassment in our schools, colleges and universities, and for educating another generation of young girls and boys.
Isn’t it time that the Tories started leading by example?”
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