Rape cover-up claims would once have brought down a government

Editorial: The Conservatives have been plagued by sex scandals in recent years – but the multiple rape accusations made against one or more Tory MPs, and the party’s handling of those allegations, make the Profumo affair look quaint

Former Tory chairman Oliver Dowden said: ‘I don’t recognise in any form the idea that we covered up’ (AFP/Getty)

The very fact that a serving British prime minister is in a place where he has had to tell people accusing one, or perhaps more, of his MPs of multiple rapes to go to the police tells us what a state we are in. Even a few years ago, it would seem outlandish. Now, like the infamous frog in a saucepan of water almost imperceptibly reaching boiling point, we are becoming inured to what’s usually termed “sleaze”.

That is surely too weak a word for what has been reportedly going on in the Conservative Party, and indeed in other parties, in recent times. It should hardly need saying that rape is a “very serious” accusation, as Rishi Sunak said, and ought always to be reported to the police. For unfortunate reasons that are well understood, however, victims of sexual assault and violence do not always do so – and if the offences take place in the context of a workplace, and one in which careers are at stake and powerful figures are involved, as in Westminster, their reluctance is all the greater.

Alongside all the familiar reasons why women choose not to press charges is the intense media interest that would inevitably be provoked when parliamentarians and their staff are involved. It is no surprise that victims so often feel betrayed by the party they served.