The Tory MP accused of watching porn on his mobile phone while in the Commons should be kicked out of the party “as a minimum”, a former women’s minister has said.
Nicky Morgan, a former education secretary and women and equalities minister who now sits in the Lords, said she was “shocked” when she first heard the allegation — calling it a “bit of a jaw dropper”.
Baroness Morgan said it was not only just an “extraordinary thing to do” but that there was an “element of almost aggression about about it as well”.
The incident was first revealed at a meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday night where some female members expressed their concerns about alleged sexual harassment and misconduct in Westminster.
On Wednesday night, a Conservative Party spokesperson said the matter was being referred to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).
“Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation the chief whip will take appropriate action,” the spokesperson said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Morgan said that while there was a “process to go through” regarding the accused, if the allegation was proven they should be expelled from the party as a “minimum”.
Her views were echoed by defence secretary Ben Wallace, who suggested that the MP in question could “lose the whip... so they could no longer belong to the Conservative Party”
“That usually means they can’t be reselected as an MP,” he told the programme.
“If they’re a government minister they could lose their job. It would be for the House authorities to define what is an appropriate level of punishment for that type of behaviour.”
Morgan also hit out at the “male culture” that presides in parliament, saying sexism and misogyny was “not just an issue on Conservative benches” but “across the House”.
She said the fact there were no employment contracts in place gave some MPs a “feeling of invincibility — that actually, ultimately it doesn’t matter...nobody’s actually going to take their job away from them, the job that gives them this sort of status to feel they can do these sorts of things”.
Rachel Maclean, the Home Office minister responsible for safeguarding women, also called for the MP to lose their job.
Ms Maclean, who was at the meeting on Tuesday where the allegations surfaced, said everyone present had been “shocked and horrified”.
“It’s just gruesome,” she told Sky News’s The Take With Sophy Ridge.
“I’m the minister responsible for safeguarding women and for creating laws which protect women against sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, so it is deeply sickening and disgusting to hear that a male MP is watching porn.
“Action needs to be taken and I very much hope… we will see him out of Parliament, out of the party. I hope that’s where we get to.”
The latest allegation has rocked a Conservative Party that is already under heavy fire following a sexism row over an article about Labour’s Angela Rayner in the Mail on Sunday.
The newspaper carried quotes from an unnamed Tory MP suggesting the deputy leader deliberately crosses and uncrosses her legs to distract Boris Johnson during prime minister’s questions.
At the same time, the Sunday Times also revealed that 56 MPs — including three Cabinet ministers and two Shadow Cabinet ministers — were being investigated for sexual misconduct.
On Thursday the BBC reported that that a female Welsh MP had been described by a Shadow Cabinet member as a “secret weapon” because “women want to be her friend and men want to sleep with her”.
The Labour Party told the BBC that if a complaint was made it would be taken “extremely seriously”.