Sexual Harassment will not be Excused - the New Era of Conservative MPs Lead the way from the Red Wall

If a silver lining can be found from the last week in Westminster, it is the integrity of these 2019-intake Conservative MPs from the West Midlands.

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Amongst the noise of the Conservative party leadership contest, you would be forgiven for overlooking the events that led us here.

But the ultimate demise of Boris Johnson and the government he led shouldn’t be forgotten so swiftly.

Image Credit: The Independent

The premiership of Boris Johnson has been one dominated by controversy and scandal, but if any silver lining can be found, it is that the Conservative Parliamentary Party will no longer tolerate sexual harassment. This comes as little comfort in the year 2022, already five years on from the #MeToo movement which shed light on widespread harassment and sexual assault at the hands of those in power from politics to the media, Hollywood and beyond.

But even for those most loyal to the Prime Minister, the handling of the Chris Pincher case was the straw that broke the camels back.

The 2019 election saw a handful of newly elected Conservative MPs in former Labour strongholds across the West Midlands, largely as the result of Boris Johnson’s personal appeal and the fractured battle lines drawn by the Brexit debate. As a result, it comes as no surprise that the new intake of MPs would feel a sense of loyalty to Boris Johnson and to some extent feel that they owe their Parliamentary seats to his achievements.

Indeed, Shaun Bailey, MP for West Bromwich West, and Gary Sambrook, MP for Birmingham Northfield, have both written or spoken of their internal turmoil as they made their ultimate decisions to withdraw support for the prime minister.

For Gary Sambrook, the handling of the Chris Pincher affair was a step too far. A former Boris-backer, Sambrook rose to his feet at Prime Minister‘s questions on Wednesday and spoke of the comments made by the Prime Minister regarding Pinchers’ sexual harassment - in his view, tantamount to excusing his actions on the basis that he had drank too much.

Sambrook said,

“the Prime Minister said… that there were 7 MPs at the Carlton Club last week and that one of them should have tried to intervene to stop Chris from drinking so much”.

He went on,

“as if that wasn’t insulting enough to the people that did try to intervene that night”, the suggestion that alcohol was at fault was also “insulting to the victims”.

He ended his question by calling for the Prime Minister to resign.

At the final hour, Shaun Bailey MP joined his colleagues in calling for the Prime Minister to go. In a statement published on his social media channels, he wrote

“It is after significant consideration that I have decided that I can no longer support the Prime Minister’s leadership.

“I have come to this sad conclusion after much deliberation with colleagues and soul-searching within myself.”

Towards the end of his statement he wrote,

It saddens me to reach this conclusion and I have not done so lightly, but the information that has come to light has led me to no other alternative.”

As a party, the Conservatives have a long way to go to fully address the lingering perception of boys-clubs in times gone-by, but the party members and indeed the wider electorate can take some reassurance that the likes of Sambrook and Bailey - who may well be future leaders should they retain their seats - will continue to hold themselves, and the Parliamentary Party, to higher standards of decency and integrity than we have sadly come to expect from Boris Johnson’s administration.

As the internal civil war rages to find a new Conservative party leader - and therefore Prime Minister - these respectable MPS are ones to watch. As Conservative MPs back their preferred candidates this week, endorsements by Sambrook and Bailey should be followed closely.

Written by Dom Stanford

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