The ‘rotten culture’ of Westminster has not been fully exposed and rooted out

New independent complaints procedures in parliament help but they are not enough

The Labour MP Geraint Davies is facing misconduct allegations and remains suspended by his party (PA)

It is going to take longer than we hoped for the lessons of the “Me Too” movement to change power relations between men and women in the workplace. In some respects, progress has been made. The survival of the Confederation of British Industry is hanging by a thread after its former director general and other senior staff were accused of sexual harassment.

Whether the CBI deserves to survive is a case that will have to be made on its own merits, but no one can now doubt the potentially serious consequences of sexual misconduct for any organisation.

In parliament, new independent complaints procedures have been set up, and parties have acted more quickly to suspend MPs against whom allegations have been made. No one can be sure how prevalent sexual harassment and bullying were before, but it seems certain that there is less of it now.

Yet there is still far too much. The case of Geraint Davies, the Labour MP who has been suspended, illustrates how hard it can still be to bring misconduct to account. Mr Davies said he does not “recognise” the allegations against him, and added: “If I have inadvertently caused offence to anyone, then I am naturally sorry.”

But the picture of the alleged unwanted sexual advances is easily recognised by the rest of us. MPs are in a position of authority, and many of the young women and men who work for them or around them lack the confidence to report the abuse of power, or fear for their careers. This is a particular problem in the Palace of Westminster, compared with the corporate sector, because staff work for individual politicians.

Attitudes are changing, but they need to change more quickly. People who are on the wrong end of a power relationship need to be given better assurances that they will be looked after if they report unacceptable behaviour. And informal mechanisms for mutual protection need to be turned into formal complaints. Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP, said on Friday that when she was elected to parliament in 2019, she was told which MPs to avoid – “It wasn’t a written list, it was a verbal one.”

Ms Nichols said: “There is an underlying absolutely rotten culture at Westminster and this is baked into every level of how the institution operates.” She is right that not enough has yet been done to tackle the rottenness at the heart not just of politics but of so many working environments.

We pay tribute to Esther Webber and Aggie Chambre, two journalists at Politico whose determination finally allowed them to name Mr Davies and prompted formal complaints against him.

This is a reminder of the importance of journalism as an essential adjunct to formal procedures, rules and guidelines in preventing misconduct or in holding it to account after the event. A free press can sound like an abstract ideal, but it has often required a combination of bravery on the part of the abused and persistence on the part of journalists for bad behaviour to be brought to light.

Let us praise that bravery and persistence, and demand that working cultures that tolerate the abuse of power be exposed and rooted out.