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| Leading Labour activist says she was raped at party event and told not to report it by senior staff | Leading Labour activist says she was raped at party event and told not to report it by senior staff |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A prominent Labour activist has revealed she was raped at a party event and then told not to report it by a senior member of staff because it might "damage" her. | A prominent Labour activist has revealed she was raped at a party event and then told not to report it by a senior member of staff because it might "damage" her. |
| Bex Bailey, who eventually won a seat on the Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, said the attack took place in 2011 shows there is a serious problem in British politics. | |
| It comes amid a series of claims about sexual harassment and abuse in British politics, with an MP in the House of Commons last night saying one staffer reported the same assault four times with the authorities doing nothing. | |
| Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM show, Ms Bailey said that the attack on her was not carried out by an MP, but was committed by someone more senior to her in the party. | |
| She said: "I was seriously sexually assaulted at a Labour party event by – it wasn’t an MP – but someone who was more senior to me. | She said: "I was seriously sexually assaulted at a Labour party event by – it wasn’t an MP – but someone who was more senior to me. |
| "It took me a while to summon up the courage to tell anyone in the party, but when I did, I told a senior member of staff who told me...it was suggested to me that I not report it. | "It took me a while to summon up the courage to tell anyone in the party, but when I did, I told a senior member of staff who told me...it was suggested to me that I not report it. |
| "I was told that if I did it might damage me." | |
| Asked later in the interview how serious the assault was, she said: "I was raped." | |
| Ms Bailey said that she had not reported the attack to the police at the time because she felt "scared" and "ashamed", because she feared being the centre of gossip and people not believing her. | |
| She explained that she was now fighting for changes to how political parties deal with such reports, because she had not received the support she needed when she first reported the incident. | |
| She went on: "I wasn’t given good advice. I wasn’t given a procedure when I asked for it so that I could see what would happen if I did report it and then make a decision. | |
| "It seemed to be that there wasn’t one that existed and I wasn’t signposted to anyone else that could help me in terms of a charity or anything like that. | |
| "I don’t think I was even given a cup of tea at the time. It was quite a horrible experience." | |
| Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was shocked by the allegations and praised Ms Bailey's "courage and bravery" in a tweet. | |
| Labour has said the party's General Secretary Iain McNicol will appoint an independent legal expert to investigate the allegations, with details made public at the earliest possible opportunity. | |
| A Labour spokesperson said: "The Labour Party takes these allegations extremely seriously. It takes great courage for victims of rape to come forward - and all support must and will be made available to them. | |
| "We would strongly recommend that the police investigate the allegations of criminal actions that Bex Bailey has made. | |
| "Labour will also launch an independent investigation into claims that a party employee acted improperly over these 2011 allegations." | |
| But Ms Bailey said she wanted to see an independent agency set up so that incidents can be reported with victims dealt with fairly and without political bias. | |
| She added: "I think that we will have the confidence to raise these issues if the procedure is improved. | |
| "It’s fantastic that [Jeremy Corbyn’s] taking this forward and has been quite strong on it and I really hope that we’ll see some change and I’d love to work with them on that." |