A former House of Commons employee has told Sky News how she suffers from post-traumatic stress after being bullied, harassed and assaulted by an MP while working in Westminster.
Lisette Whittaker, who worked as a Commons’ committee assistant, said her experience has left her angry about how officials failed to protect her.
She spoke ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the House of Commons Commission, where officials will discuss a damning independent inquiry into allegations of widespread bullying and harassment at Westminster.
The report by Dame Laura Cox has piled pressure on senior Commons figures, including Speaker John Bercow, after she judged it would be “extremely difficult” for the current administration to bring about necessary changes.
Mr Bercow, who has signalled an intent to remain in his role until next summer, has denied bullying allegations directed against him personally.
On Tuesday, three MPs quit a committee chaired by Mr Bercow in the light of Dame Cox’s report.
Ms Whittaker was this week among dozens of current and ex-parliamentary staff to waive their right to anonymity to sign an open letter demanding urgent change.
Speaking to Sky News in her first TV interview, an emotional Ms Whittaker described how she experienced “low-level harassment” as soon as she began her Westminster career in the early 1990s.
She said: “I joined the European Scrutiny Committee and people would make comments when I walked into the cafeteria about ‘Here come the Euro babes’. I was only 19 at the time and it was quite off-putting.
“An MP jumped into a lift with me on my second or third day and said he’d be really happy to show me around all the bars. It was just this low-level stuff that felt like it was all the time.”
After a short period of working in parliament, Ms Whittaker was then assaulted by an MP but, she revealed, it was “brushed under the carpet” and “made out that it was a minor incident”.
“There was no HR process, there was no HR structure,” she added.
“I told my manager [but] I also had some issues with him, he used to shout at me quite a lot.
“Our offices were next door to each other and, rather than pick the phone up and ask me to go in, or come in and see me, he would just shout my name until I came in.
“On one occasion I went in and he said ‘I just wanted to tell you that’s a really nice dress you’ve got on’.”
Ms Whittaker revealed she was left to feel “very vulnerable” and “very exposed” but also that she “just needed to toughen up a bit” as there was a sense of having to “suck it up”.
“You were made to feel you needed to be resilient if you wanted to get on in that organisation,” she said. “Obviously, that is not the definition of resilient, putting up with that kind of behaviour.”