Michael Fallon ‘knifed’ by Andrea Leadsom after he schemed to have her sacked to secure Brexit deal
Andrea Leadsom “knifed” Sir Michael Fallon after he suggested she was a “dud” who would have to be sacked to get Cabinet agreement on the Brexit deal, it has emerged.
The Commons Leader launched a “preemptive strike” against the former defence secretary to protect her own job, ministers have said, and is now “unsackable” because of her whistleblower status.
Colleagues have also suggested that Mrs Leadsom, who ran for the Tory leadership last year, harbours ambitions of becoming chancellor if Theresa May is eventually succeeded by Gavin Williamson, the man who replaced Sir Michael.
Michael Fallon sex assault claim
● ‘Victim’ alerted Downing Street on Wednesday ● Veteran MP quit as defence secretary hours later
No 10 was presented with details of an alleged sexual assault by Sir Michael Fallon hours before he resigned, a Conservative MP has revealed.
The prime minister’s team was confronted by a “person with great courage” who set out allegations against the former defence secretary on Wednesday, Anna Soubry has told The Times.
Sir Michael and Theresa May met on Wednesday afternoon and he announced his resignation with immediate effect that evening. He had apologised on Monday night for repeatedly putting his hand on the journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer’s knee during the Conservative Party conference in 2002.
He said that his personal conduct “had fallen below the high standards we require of the armed forces”. Friends said at the time of his resignation that he was not stepping down because new allegations had been made.
Read on… https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/michael-fallon-sex-assault-claim-pbdwnrz6x
Exclusive: Labour MP suspended after alleged victim tells The Telegraph he sexually harassed her
The Labour Party has suspended a senior MP after an activist claimed that he sexually harassed her.
Kelvin Hopkins, a former shadow minister until last year, has had the Labour whip withdrawn after a Telegraph investigation found allegations that he sent “inappropriate” text messages and rubbed himself up against a young woman after a political event.
Ava Etemadzadeh, who is now 27, said that she informed the whips office at the time of the incident and that a regional representative contacted the Leader’s office last year to raise concerns about the allegations.
Read on… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/02/labour/
Harassment hotline under new Tory code of conduct
Theresa May has introduced a new code of conduct for Conservative politicians in response to the Westminster sexual harassment scandal.
In a letter to John Bercow, the Commons speaker, she said that the government believed that there should be a “common, transparent, independent grievance procedure for all those working in parliament”.
She also laid out detailed procedures for dealing with allegations of impropriety within her own party, including a semi-independent arbitration process for complaints and a telephone hotline.
The publication of the new code of conduct came as it emerged that Kate Maltby, who alleges that Damian Green made inappropriate advances on her, has still not been contacted by the Cabinet Office’s inquiry into the incident. As early as Wednesday Mr Green, who denies the allegations and has instructed libel lawyers, was reported to have passed text messages between the pair to the inquiry.
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