Harassment and bullying: What is wrong with British politics?

Two weeks ago, POLITICO revealed Geraint Davies was accused of sexual harassment by 5 different women. The Labour MP said he did not recognize the allegations but apologized if he inadvertently caused offence to anyone. This week, host Aggie Chambre asks why we keep hearing new allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying in the British parliament, and asks what can be done to make it better. She speaks to her POLITICO colleague Esther Webber, who has broken numerous stories on inappropriate behavior. Esther tells Aggie her theories on what is going wrong and how it can be fixed. Former clerk Jenny McCullough tells Aggie about her experience of being bullied while working in Westminster. Labour MP Jess Phillips talks about what she would do if someone came to her and said they were being bullied, and ponders whether it's something about MPs that makes Westminster susceptible to this sort of behavior. Tory MP Mark Jenkinson questions whether some bullying allegations should really be described as bullying, and says politics is no place for snowflakes. Former special adviser Lucia Hodgson talks about setting up parliament's the independent complaints scheme. And listeners hear again from the focus group of former staffers, who appeared at the beginning of the season. The group talks about how parliament can be an intoxicating place, and they describe what it's really like to work in Westminster.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices