British minister to be investigated over sexual harassment allegation.
British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to crack down on politicians accused of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior toward government and parliamentary workers after reports of misconduct emerged over the weekend.
May called for tougher rules for members of Parliament accused of harassment after Mark Garnier, an international trade minister for the ruling Conservative Party, admitted asking his secretary Caroline Edmondson to buy sex toys at a shop in London’s Soho neighborhood in 2010.
Garnier confirmed the incident following allegations made by Edmondson in Britain’s Sunday Mail newspaper, although he claimed the sex toys, which included two vibrators, were part of some «good-humored high jinks.»
Edmondson told the newspaper that «another time in the (House of Commons) bar (Garnier) said to me in the hearing of others, ‘You are going nowhere, sugar t*ts.’ He was worried I was going to go off and work for another MP. It was awful.»
Garnier, 54, is married and has three children.
May ordered an investigation into the claims, which surfaced amid the high-profile sexual abuse scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood movie mogul.
In separate allegations involving a British politician, Stephen Crabb, 44, a former cabinet minister, admitted «saying some pretty outrageous things» in 2013 to a woman who he had just turned down for job in his parliamentary office, according to an investigation by the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Crabb, a married devout Christian, said he sent the 19-year-old woman messages «that basically amount to unfaithfulness.»
A widely-read British political blog called «Guido Fawkes» claimed Monday that Conservative Party politicians have compiled a list of 36 serving British members of Parliament accused of inappropriate behavior.
«The dossier includes specific allegations against MPs, including one minister who is ‘handsy with women at parties,’ an MP on the government payroll who had ‘sexual relations with a researcher,’ one backbencher who is ‘perpetually intoxicated and very inappropriate with women,’ and another who allegedly ‘paid a woman to be quiet,’ according to the blog. The names and identifying details of the accused were redacted.
