The British Parliament has been the center of some misogyny and pornography scandals which have shocked and embarrassed the UK, but which are the tip of the iceberg of a larger problem of sexism rooted in many Members.
The last scandal was carried out by the conservative deputy Neil Parishwho was suspended this Friday from the formation in power after being accused in recent days of looking at porn on his mobile while participating in the sessions ofand the House of Commons.
The politician, who has refused to resign will be investigated by the Lower House Standards Committee, which is to assess the MP’s conduct and rule on whether he was guilty of misconduct in the Westminster (central) Parliament.
The Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats, in opposition, have called for the resignation of Parish, a deputy for the constituency of Tiverton & Honiton (in the southwest of England), and described the attitude of the “tory” parliamentarian as “disgusting”, 65 years old.
“This marks yet another low for the Commons. It is clear that he is not ready to be in Parliament,” veteran Labor MP Harriet Harman told the media.
After being identified as the deputy who watched porn, Parish said he was able to “mistakenly” open the porn video, although several deputies were witnesses and a secretary of state, whose identity has not been revealed, claimed to have seen him do the same during a session in a committee of the House of Commons.
This scandal came to light after the controversy over some anonymous statements by several “Tory” deputieswho falsely accused the “number of” del Laborismo, Angela Raynerof trying distract the prime minister British, Boris Johnson, crossing and uncrossing the legs in the control sessions to the “premier”.
Those deputies compared Rayner to American actress Sharon Stone, who in the movie “Basic Instinct” uncrosses and crosses her legs in a now-famous scene.
The scope of the misogyny against Rayner forced Johnson and other parliamentarians to sympathize with politics and denounce such “unacceptable” attitudes in a parliament.
Rayner is a charismatic MP, rising through the Labor ranks, and has often stood in for the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, in Prime Minister’s scrutiny sessions, where she has stood out for her strong speaking skills and has put embarrassment to the Head of Government in matters of national interest.
These cases are added to others 56 complaints of alleged sexual misconduct filed against other parliamentarians, including tthree members of the conservative government and two opposition spokesmenwho have not yet been identified.
LONG HISTORY OF MACHISMO IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
Behind that image of good manners of the deputies, who in the Commons are addressed as “the honorable gentleman” or the “honorable lady”, always through the president of the chamber, hide some macho and retrograde attitudes among some parliamentarians.
The British Minister for International TradeAnne-Marie Trevelyan, even admitted that on one occasion a deputy pushed her against a wall and made sexual advancesand acknowledged that “many times” he was a victim of misogyny of colleagues.
The chair of the House of Commons Women and Equality Committee, the Conservative Caroline Nokes, admitted that the sexism is institutionalized in the Conservative Party and that she has been criticized for denouncing this situation.
“I know that male colleagues have been in the corridors of Westminster blaming me for leaking (these cases), blaming me for talking about this as if it were something that would be better hidden,” Nokes admitted in an interview with The Times newspaper.
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