A senior SNP MP has made a full Commons apology after being found to have made an “unwanted sexual advance” to a junior staff member in a London pub.
Patrick Grady, the MP for Glasgow North, faces being suspended from the Commons for two days for a “significant breach” of Parliament’s sexual misconduct policy.
The MP, who is a former chief whip or senior party manager, told the Commons that he had deep regret over the incident and had undertaken training to make him more aware of the behaviour expected of him.
Grady began his statement to the House by confirming he accepted “in full and without reservation” the findings of the Independent Expert Panel and parliamentary commissioner for standards, telling MPs: “On October 20 2016 at a SNP social event I made an inappropriate physical advance to a junior member of SNP group staff."
He told the Commons: ”Mr Speaker, I am profoundly sorry for my behaviour and I deeply regret my actions and the consequences. Any breach of the behaviour codes and associated policies risks bringing this House into disrepute and will cause the stress and upset not just for the complainant but to the wider parliamentary community."
“I give you and this House my firm assurance that I have learned significant lessons through this process and a firm undertaking that such behaviour on my part will never happen again.”
Investigators examined the behaviour of Grady, who was 36 at the time, towards the then-19-year-old party staff member at a 2016 SNP social event while “under the influence of alcohol”.
The Glasgow North MP allegedly “made an unwanted sexual advance to the complainant that included the touching and stroking of the complainant’s neck, hair, and back”.
Flanked by some supportive colleagues, Grady told the Commons: “I was wrong to make assumptions about the social and personal relationship that existed, or had potential to exist, between myself and the complainant, and wrong to act on those assumptions."
He added: “Blurring personal and professional boundaries in a work environment can be highly problematic, causing confusion, embarrassment, upset and distress and I should have been aware of that."
“I should have been far more cognisant of the significant age gap of 17 years between myself and the complainant and I should have been far more appreciative of the perceptions other people have of me as an elected representative and the real and perceived power that we hold.”
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