Why can’t Westminster solve its bullying problem?

Bullying in Westminster is back in the spotlight after Gavin Williamson quit amid claims that he told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” while he was defence secretary and “deliberately demeaned and intimidated” staff.

The allegations followed a report in The Sunday Times that former chief whip Wendy Morton had handed over a series of expletive-laden text messages from Williamson to Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

The Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar then revealed that Williamson had told a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence to “jump out of the window”, in a series of furious exchanges that it is alleged constituted a sustained campaign of bullying.

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Westminster’s bullying problem appears to be increasing. Just last month, Labour’s Christina Rees lost the party whip “over allegations that she bullied members of her constituency staff”, reported LabourList.

There were also allegations of bullying during a Commons vote on fracking last month, with government whips accused of “manhandling” MPs to force them to vote with the government. However, a parliamentary investigation found “no evidence” that MPs were bullied, noted The Independent.

What did the papers say?

There have been particularly “dark rumours” in Westminster for years over bullying by Tory whips, said The Guardian in 2017, after the party was forced to deny that a politician had been reduced to tears by “bullyboy tactics”.

However, as far back as the 1990s, the “imposing physique and reputation for robust methods” led to one Conservative whip being branded “the Terminator”. David Lightbown was accused of “pinning at least one potential rebel against the wall” and “warning him of the consequences of a vote in the wrong direction”, added the paper.

Several steps have been taken to address bullying. In 2018, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme was introduced in response to the #MeToo movement. It has “resulted in several MPs being sanctioned for unacceptable behaviour, including sexual harassment and bullying,” said Politico.

However, a report by HR director Alison Stanley in 2021 found that the average time for an investigation to be concluded was 196 days, leading to claims that the probes were taking too long.

An investigation in 2019 found that there was a “significant problem” of MPs bullying and harassing staff in Parliament. The senior lawyer who led the probe said the behaviour had “seriously affected the health and welfare of far too many people”.

The publication of that report came a day after another inquiry found that staff were “bullied and harassed” by “known offenders” in the House of Lords, noted the BBC.

The following year, said Politico, parliamentary authorities and political leaders were still facing a wave of allegations of a “culture of bullying and harassment”. Several allegations were directed at Priti Patel, then the home secretary, with colleagues describing a “pattern” of unacceptable behaviour spanning her ministerial career, says The Times.

What next?

“What the hell is wrong with Westminster?” wondered Politico in April. “It’s common to hear that these transgressions are difficult to address”, it said, because of “the ingrained culture at Westminster: a toxic mix of late nights, subsidised bars and informal working arrangements”.

As well as the working culture of politics, the inherent personality of many MPs has been blamed. Civil Service World noted that “it takes a strange type of character to become a politician and a strong sense of self belief is necessary,” and though many MPs want to “make the world a better place” it “doesn’t… necessarily make you a nice person” because “you can be a great reformer and an abusive bully”.

One difficulty is who determining who should decide on punishments. “Bullying and harassment usually occurs because of a power imbalance”, wrote Emily Commander on Politics Home, so “allowing MPs to debate sanctions in the House of Commons tips the scales even further in their favour”.