Allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment, and affairs have been made against 37 male and female Tory MPs and cabinet ministers, including the use of prostitutes and ‘extreme sex acts’ with multiple men.
The extensive spreadsheet, titled “High libido MPs”, has been compiled by a group of current and former researchers, both male and female, and has been seen by The Times.
Separately, at least four Labour MPs have been accused of harassing young women, including two who have served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
The new spreadsheet reportedly details alleged inappropriate sexual conduct against 15 current ministers and more than 20 backbench Conservative MPs over the past five years.
A prominent female MP is accused of having extramarital sex with young male researchers and other MPs have reportedly had sex in their Westminster offices and used the services of prostitutes.
The list also alleges that a video is circulating of one Tory backbencher engaged in an “extreme sex act with three men,” The Times claims. At least two MPs are accused of getting their mistresses pregnant, with one allegedly paying for her to have an abortion.
One minister who is said to be “handsy with women at parties” and an MP on the government payroll allegedly had “sexual relations with a researcher”.
It is also written that a backbencher is “perpetually intoxicated and very inappropriate with women” and another is said to have “paid a woman to be quiet”.
According to the Guido Fawkes blog, many of the stories are well known to those who work around Westminster, and some are now public knowledge.
For example, the international trade minister and Tory MP Mark Garnier is to face an investigation into whether he broke ministerial rules after he admitted asking his secretary to buy sex toys.
He sent his personal assistant to buy vibrators “for his wife and a woman who worked in his constituency office” and called her “sugar t*ts,” his former secretary Caroline Edmondson said.
According to the paper, Mr. Garnier admitted the claims, saying: “I’m not going to deny it, because I’m not going to be dishonest. I’m going to have to take it on the chin.”
He conceded that his actions could look like “dinosaur behaviour” in the current climate, but added: “It absolutely does not constitute harassment.”
One former Conservative aide said researchers were often reluctant to come forward for fear of jeopardising their jobs.
“Everyone knows about this in Westminster, about people who are known to be handsy or weird at conference. We knew about Stephen Crabb already but it’s just that so many, including senior ministers, have been overlooked,” they added.
Responding to an urgent question from Harriet Harman, Labour’s former deputy leader, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, said no one should have to work in an environment of “sleazy, toxic or sexist banter”.
She said this afternoon that a new system for anonymously reporting abuse in Westminister should be set up so young researchers and journalists did not fear having their careers damaged if they become victims.
In a statement to MPs, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow challenged political parties to “live up to their responsibilities” as he called for change at Westminster amid what he called “disturbing” allegations about a “culture of sexual harassment”.
The latest allegations come after Labour MP Jared O’Mara was suspended from the party and had the whip withdrawn over extensive allegations of his behaviour towards women, including claims he called one of his own constituents an “ugly bitch” this year, and historic allegations of remarks made online, including a claim he called teenage music fans “sexy little slags”. An investigation is ongoing.