Party leaders must set up a genuinely independent system for dealing with allegations of sexual harassment and assault

It would have been beneath contempt for any politician to seek party-political advantage in this matter

Theresa May has vowed to take action on the numerous claims of sexual harassment and assault (BBC)

The party leaders responded to the allegations of sexual harassment in politics with the right level of seriousness today, but the real test is what will happen in the weeks to come. The Prime Minister came to the House of Commons armed with a letter to the leaders of the other parties inviting them to a meeting on Monday to discuss an improved grievance procedure for all those working in Parliament, and the Leader of the Opposition said he was happy to do so.

It would have been beneath contempt for any politician to seek party-political advantage in this matter. Much of the current media frenzy is about a spreadsheet of allegations and gossip about 40 or so MPs, who are all Conservatives, but one of the most serious of the current allegations is that of rape, made by Bex Bailey, a former member of Labour’s National Executive Committee, against a senior party official. The Liberal Democrats have had their own problems of the long drawn-out investigation of the conduct of Lord Rennard, against whom several women alleged inappropriate behaviour.

This is not a problem of one particular party, but of a toxic political and media culture. It is possible that this culture is changing, which may be why behaviour that might have been overlooked in the past is now being brought to light. But if so, it is changing too slowly and still has a long way to go.

And if it is changing, it is only because of the strength of character of those women who have gone public. Ms Bailey in particular deserves admiration and gratitude for telling her story of being raped at a party event at the age of 19. She said today: “I spoke out in the hope that policy, process and culture will change.”

This is the most important point. It requires clarity about the different kinds of allegation that are currently being reported in a rather confusing welter of sleaze. The spreadsheet, apparently compiled by junior Conservative researchers, contains a wide range of allegations of serious misconduct together with tittle-tattle about consensual relationships.

Each case needs to be investigated as thoroughly as possible, bearing in mind one of the central questions in such cases, which is the abuse of power in an asymmetrical relationship. In politics, this is complicated beyond the usual relationship of employee and employer by the networks of patronage and support.

As Ms Bailey said, an “independent agency to report to is vital”. This was reflected in Ms May’s letter, which spoke of parliamentary support teams having “the ability to recommend onward referral of any case to an independent body”. We are unconvinced that this goes far enough. The right of “onward referral” to an independent body does not afford the same level of protection as the right to take a problem in the first instance to someone unconnected with the power structure.

The party leaders must listen to the victims of harassment and assault, and if they say that they believe that a body independent of Parliament should be the first port of call for complaints, that is how it should be.