A senior Labour MP has told how he was “regularly touched up” by older colleagues two decades ago in the latest revelation of sexual harassment in Westminster.
Commons Standards Committee chair Chris Bryant said as a gay MP, he was targeted by “older, senior” men who were not out yet.
He told LBC Radio: “I remember when I came in, in 2001, I was regularly touched up by older, senior gay - well, they weren't out but - MPs.
"I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, and that’s the last thing you want.
“And I think a lot of women have been through that."
Mr Bryant said “I can think of four MPs in division lobbies”, telling host Iain Dale: “I was shocked at the time and I bet you could guess who the four MPs are.”
The Standards Committee chief, 60, said if the same thing happened now he would report it to an independent complaints procedure - whereas in the past it “used to be brushed under the Pugin carpet”.
He added: “I’m glad to say that some of the homophobia we saw back in those days has gone, but I think some of the racism and misogyny is certainly still around in Parliament.”
Calls are growing for a huge shake-up of Westminster’s culture in the wake of the Tory porn scandal.
Fresh claims emerged that a senior Conservative MP pestered a female staff member for “sexual favours”.
The allegations were so serious that party bosses were advised to take them “straight to the police”, according to The Mail on Sunday.
The Mail on Sunday and Sun on Sunday reported that a Commons staffer or staffers have been compiling names of MPs who are accused of inappropriate behaviour.
Labour leader Keir Starmer called for behavioural change to tackle sleaze in Westminster after Neil Parish resigned and admitted watching porn in the Commons.
Demanding an overhaul in Parliament, Mr Starmer told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "We need to listen to women and I've spoken to a number of women in the last few days and they're very clear that whilst there does need to be culture change, those who are engaged in this sort of activity, whether it's comments about Angela Rayner or whether it's watching porn in the House of Commons, have to take responsibility."
Mr Parish told the BBC on Saturday: "The situation was, funnily enough it was tractors I was looking at, so I did get into another website with sort of a very similar name and I watched it for a bit, which I shouldn't have done," Mr Parish said.
"My crime, my most biggest crime, is that on another occasion I went in a second time, and that was deliberate.
"That was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber."
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is calling for "radical" reform to working practices after a series of bullying and sexual misconduct offences involving MPs.
Sir Lindsay suggested staff should no longer be employed by the parliamentarians they work for to address a series of "serious allegations".
But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said shutting Parliament's bars to tackle sexual misconduct and sleaze would be "excessively puritanical".
On Friday, Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said she was once “pinned up against a wall” by a male MP after joining Parliament in 2015.
She revealed she had suffered “wandering hands” probably half a dozen times as she told male MPs: “Keep your hands in your pockets”.
The Trade Secretary said there are men in Parliament who think they are “God’s gift to women” and she has been at the “sharp end” of misogyny “many times over”.
“A couple were repeat offenders, they’ve got the message now,” she added.
