Marina Hyde’s piece (So Labour waded into the Gregg Wallace row. Why don’t they get their own house, parliament, in order?, 3 December) seems to miss the point. It’s not a competition between how bad workplaces can be, and I was pleased that I was also able to use my parliamentary voice to speak out during the “Pestminster” scandal.
Part of our job as members of parliament is to expose wrongdoing and speak truth to power. Indeed, as a result of my appearances on radio and TV last week, women who have been victims of Gregg Wallace’s behaviour have come forward via my inbox, and the BBC has at last shared with me a route through which their grievances can be aired.
Part of the problem that the complainants have had – from different roles in different years on different shows made by different production companies, with Wallace being a common thread – is that they felt they had nowhere to complain and they were not listened to.
Following my intervention, the BBC has followed my suggestion to pause remaining Wallace Christmas broadcasts for the time being – though my fear is that the problem appears to be bigger than just with the one production company looking into this matter.
It is incumbent on politicians to speak out, be it the prime minister, culture secretary or backbenchers, and I’m sure we will continue to do so.
Rupa Huq MP
Labour, Ealing Central and Acton
