Panel recommends suspending Patrick Grady MP for sexual misconduct

A panel has published a report recommending that Patrick Grady MP is suspended from the House of Commons for two days for a breach of Parliament’s Sexual Misconduct Policy.

Following an investigation by an independent investigator the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld an allegation of sexual misconduct against Mr Grady by a member of party staff made under Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).

The Commissioner concluded that in 2016 at a work social event in a pub Mr Grady made an unwanted sexual advance to the complainant that included the touching and stroking of the complainant's neck, hair, and back. Mr Grady did not appeal the decision.

The IEP sub-panel considering sanction warned that although MPs are not banned from beginning sexual relationships with staff members:

"… it is obvious that enormous care must be taken if such relationships are to be entered into. Great disparities of status and power exist. Where a considerable disparity of age and experience is added into the mix, it will be highly problematic to initiate a sexual relationship without the risk that there is no true mutuality. "

It concluded that:

"An unwanted physical touching, with sexual intent, from a senior MP to a junior member of staff, even on a single occasion, is a significant breach of the policy. It must be marked by some period of suspension from the House. "

The sub-panel took into account Mr Grady’s genuine remorse for his actions, that they were not repeated once rebuffed, and his efforts to address his behaviour since the incident. It therefore recommended Mr Grady be suspended for two sitting days, make a public apology in the House of Commons, and a private one to the complainant.

Everyone involved in an ICGS complaint is required to keep all details of it confidential until a report is published. The sub-panel therefore reduced the recommended suspension because the “complainant breached confidentiality repeatedly”; and these breaches were “a deliberate attempt to publicly discredit Mr Grady”, leading to him suffering “intrusive press activities and abuse on social media.”

In a personal statement to the Commons, Mr Grady said: "I am profoundly sorry for my behaviour and I deeply regret my actions and their consequences.

"Any breach of the behaviour code and associated policies risks bringing this House into disrepute and will cause distress and upset not just to the complainant but to the wider parliamentary community."

He accepted that on October 20 2016 at a SNP social event "I made an inappropriate physical advance to a junior member of SNP group staff".

Mr Grady added: "My behaviour and the intent behind it was a significant breach of the behaviour code and sexual misconduct policy for the UK Parliament.

"The breach is aggravated by a considerable disparity in age and authority between myself and the complainant and further aggravated by excessive consumption of alcohol on my part.

"I was wrong to make assumptions about the social and personal relationship that existed or had potential to exist between myself and the complainant, and wrong to act on those assumptions.

"Blurring personal and professional boundaries in a work environment can be highly problematic, causing confusion, embarrassment, upset and distress, and I should have been aware of that.

"I should have been far more cognisant of the significant age gap of 17 years between myself and the complainant and I should have been far more appreciative of the perceptions other people have of me as an elected representative and the real and perceived power that we hold."

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