Several parliamentarians believe staff members are set to go public, which could lead to ‘a number of resignations’

Senior MPs have raised complaints that allegations of sexual harassment are still not being taken seriously enough by their parties and whips despite years of warnings about inappropriate behaviour in Westminster, the Guardian has learned.

MPs made their fears known to their parties after the Labour MP Jared O’Mara was suspended over allegations of misogynistic abuse, and parliamentary staff aired allegations of sexual harassment and assault on a private WhatsApp messaging group.

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Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn called on Friday for any staff members who have experienced sexual harassment or abuse to contact the House of Commons authorities or police to make formal reports.

The decision by women in Westminster to share information comes in a new atmosphere of open revulsion at sexual misconduct following the allegations of assault and rape against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Several parliamentarians said they believed staff members were set to go public over the coming days about their experiences working in Westminster, which could lead to “a number of resignations”.

The allegations are across party political lines. The Guardian has been made aware of a number of complaints against MPs and other senior figures that have not yet been made public, including:

Allegations about inappropriate sexual behaviour of a Conservative former minister.



A Labour MP described as “incredibly predatory”.



A backbencher where an allegation of inappropriate behaviour was made on a trip abroad earlier this year.



An MP who allegedly left a parliamentary delegation after allegations about their conduct.



Separately, Adrian Bailey, a Labour MP, accused his party of failing to deal properly with allegations that a colleague in a position of authority sent messages of a “sexually degrading nature” that were “humiliating and personally abusive” about two female members of his local party.

“I have shown the evidence to senior female Labour MPs and they agree with me that they are every bit as serious as the allegations against Jared O’Mara which have resulted in his suspension,” he said.

“If the Labour party is to convince the public that it is serious enough about dealing with bullying and misogynistic behaviour, then it needs to act consistently and immediately.”

Labour MP John Mann, who has raised concerns in parliament about channels for staff to report information about MPs, said he believed it was not appropriate for victims to have to report harassment to the party whips or central office.

“Staff employed in parliament have no effective and credible reporting lines if they are experiencing harassment. It should not be a matter for the party whips, it’s an issue of safeguarding,” he said. “There’s no system of reporting allegations – and if an allegation is made against one MP via one channel, others will not know.”

He has asked John Bercow, the speaker, for clarification over what happens when an MP is “elected by parliament to represent us on a foreign delegation and is subsequently sent home from that delegation for inappropriate behaviour”. Bercow said it was a matter for the MP’s political party in the first instance.

Until recently, staff working in the Houses of Parliament had been members of the same trade union branch as the MPs they worked for, a situation one MP described as dangerous.

Another MP said they had been trying to get an official sexual harassment policy in place within their party for three years.

A Labour compliance official has emailed a circular to constituency parties this week setting out its policy of “zero tolerance for sexual harassment” giving guidance for dealing with allegations.

But one Labour MP said there was a “willingness to make the right noises and write the right policies but a complete indifference to seeing them through” when it came to allegations about sexual harassment.

“The hierarchy of the party, shall we say, puts political considerations above the rights of individuals,” the MP said. “If it’s politically convenient for them to take action they will do it very quickly. But if it isn’t, then they don’t. You can tie up any process in hearings and representations and spin it out until it loses any impetus or relevance. That is what I think they do.”

Another Labour MP said they had presented a wealth of evidence to the party that women’s allegations of “sex harassment, intimidation and sexual abuse” are going uninvestigated while the male subjects of the accusations are continuing to rise in the party.

The MP said the new sexual harassment policy was a lot better than nothing but still was not good enough, and parties need to deal with the issue of MPs being self-employed, so their young female staff “have to tolerate whatever is thrown at them or their career is over”.

The Guardian contacted a number of Conservative MPs but none were willing to speak on the record.

Concerns have been raised in the past over the fact that MPs in effect employ their staff directly, in Westminster and in their constituencies. Although MPs are paid with public funds, there is no formal, equal HR system for those staff to access should they be concerned about an MP’s behaviour towards them, and no dedicated grievance procedure, other than approaching House of Commons authorities, their party’s headquarters or whips.

Parliament launched a confidential hotline for staff to report incidents of harassment and bullying in 2014, after a series of complaints about Westminster’s working environment by current and former employees of MPs.

No 10 said on Friday that parties and House of Commons authorities must take any formal complaints seriously. “Any allegations that may come to light will be taken extremely seriously and we would advise people to contact the police if there is such an allegation, so it can be fully investigated,” a spokeswoman said.

“All parties, all employers in any walk of life, must take this seriously and make sure their staff are protected or looked after. No industry is immune from this, including politics.”

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, told an LBC radio phone-in with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, that people should report their allegations. “Where there is an unequal power relationship in the workplace and women become vulnerable because of it, they have to be supported and they have to be protected,” he said.

“I say this to any employer who is listening: make sure you have processes in place that any of your staff who feel they are being abused by a more powerful colleague, then you have to have a process for dealing with it.”

Corbyn will address the subject at Unite’s Scottish policy conference on Saturday, where he will say that there is “a culture where the abuse of women has often been accepted and normalised”.

The Labour leader will say: “[Sexual harassment] is a warped and degrading culture that also exists and thrives in the corridors of power, including in Westminster. This needs to be a turning point. Any members of Parliament who have engaged in this sort of behaviour must be held to account.”