The UK international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has urged male colleagues to “keep your hands in your pockets” as she said all women in parliament have been subjected to “wandering hands”.
Speaking on Sky News on Friday, Trevelyan, the MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, said allegations that a Conservative MP watched pornography in the Commons chamber were “completely unacceptable” but declined to say whether they should be sacked.
She said some men in Westminster thought being elected made them “God’s gift to women”, although the vast majority were “delightful, committed parliamentarians”.
She later revealed on LBC Radio that a number of years ago she had been “pinned up against a wall by a male MP” who no longer serves, who said she must “want him because he was a powerful man”.
“These sorts of things, these power abuses, that a very small minority, thank goodness, of male colleagues show is completely unacceptable,” she said.
The Tory chief whip issued a statement on Wednesday suggesting the allegation that a Conservative MP watched pornography in parliament should be referred to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which deals with sexual harassment and other disciplinary matters.
Senior Tories questioned why he had not taken action directly against the MP, whose alleged behaviour was witnessed by two female colleagues in recent months.
Asked about the broader culture in Westminster, Trevelyan said: “All of us as women in parliament have been subjected to inappropriate language, to wandering hands, as my granny used to call it, it doesn’t change. The vast majority of the men I work with are delightful. They’re committed parliamentarians, they’re passionate about the causes they fight.
“But there are a few for whom too much drink, or indeed a sort of view that somehow being elected makes them God’s gift to women, that they can suddenly please themselves, that is never OK.”
She said there were a number of ways to help women report their experiences, which had been set up in the wake of the MeToo movement. “Fundamentally, if you’re a bloke, keep your hands in your pockets and behave as you would if you had your daughter in the room,” she said.
Trevelyan said she was comfortable “calling out anybody who thinks their wandering hands are OK” and that she had done a number of times. She questioned why the Tory MP accused of watching porn in the Commons had the time to do it, as well as why he thought it was acceptable.
“I haven’t had the chance to talk to the chief whip, and I know the ladies in question who apparently saw this completely, completely inappropriate activity have been encouraged to use the formal system in the House of Commons to be able to report it and I hope very much that they will or indeed have, I don’t know, and that the system will demonstrate if that was the case, exactly what the punishment should be for that sort of inappropriate behaviour,” she said.
Questioned about the drinking culture in the House of Commons, Trevelyan said: “Responsible drinking has to be the way forwards.”
The identity of the MP is known to party whips, it is understood.
Misogyny and sexism in parliament have come under close scrutiny in recent days, after a widely criticised Mail on Sunday story claimed Tory MPs believed Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, crossed and uncrossed her legs to distract Boris Johnson at prime minister’s questions.
