Women MPs outnumber male colleagues in Commons chamber during sexual harassment debate
More than a third of Tory MPs present for the Urgent Question, tabled by Labour’s Harriet Harman, were women — far above their usual percentage
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Your support makes all the difference.Women MPs outnumbered their male counterparts as the House of Commons debated the sexual harassment allegations in Westminster on Monday.
The usually male-dominated chamber saw a markedly different gender balance as Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom unveiled plans to offer more support for victims of misconduct and Speaker John Bercow called for a new complaints procedure.
There were 65 women and just 56 men present in the Commons, according to HuffPost UK, giving women nearly 54 per cent of the chamber — despite the fact that only 21 per cent of Tories and 45 per cent of Labour MPs are female.
More than a third of Tory MPs present for the Urgent Question, tabled by Labour’s Harriet Harman, were women — far above their usual proportion.
The reversal in numbers came as some Labour MPs were accused of privately suggesting there was a “witch-hunt” against men in Parliament, and had joked that they should “fess up” to their misconduct.
During the debate, the scandal deepened after it was claimed authorities in Parliament failed to deal with an assault allegation made by a woman working for an MP, despite her reporting it four times.
The female staffer who suffered the alleged sexual assault confided it to another MP, who used the debate to bring it to light.
Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom said MPs risked losing their ministerial roles and the party whip as a consequence of harassment allegations, even if their behaviour fell significantly short of “criminal activity”.
Both Commons Speaker John Bercow and Ms Leadsom vowed to take further action, as a list of 36 Conservative MPs subject to allegations of bad behaviour was drawn up by staffers and leaked.
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