The Labour Party

I would have thought that too Annie. I know there have been suspensions and investigations into Corbyns office in the recent past. I only asked, as 'researching' the entire internet and press is pretty time consuming and if someone else already knows, where's the harm in asking?
Don't you ever ask a genuine question GGMk2 or are they all just rhetorical, with an agenda?

Now is this a form of bullying?

No.

You do like to put people down about what they write GGMk2 don't you? Now is this a form of bullying?

If there is allegations of bullying and a Labour MP is asked/ ordered to stand down from their post then this should apply to Corbyn's office too. Equal treatment for all.

Debbie Abrahams has recently publicly disagreed with Corbyn, coincidence perhaps

No co-incidence I bet, as Corbyn’s team are going all out to get rid of anyone who may now and then challenge him.
I expect to see this more and more in the coming year.Councils are being targeted too, no LP person in any aspect of authority is safe.The kind of thing that you would expect under a dictator, not a democratic political party.
Labour MP’s should have broken away and formed a new party the minute he was elected.

Corbyn's kinder politics !

Regarding Debbie Abrahams, she was suspended from her position in the Labour party while an investigation is carried out into an "employment issue".

Under existing employment legislation she would have been retained on full pay while the investigation and following disciplinary procedure is carried out. In the foregoing Debbie Abrahams would have been allowed to state her case at the initial disciplinary investigation, the follow up disciplinary hearing (if it was found there was a case to answer) and disciplinary appeal if the hearing found against her. Should all the above find against her, Debbie Abraham's would have be able to take her case to an industrial court (industrial tribunal) for a full independent hearing.

As an alternative to the foregoing Debbie Abrahams could have launched a grievance against the General Secretary's office or Jeremy Corbyns office (as the case may be) in regard to bullying, and that grievance also under current employment legislation has to be heard and finalised before any disciplinary action could be taken against her in regard to the "employment issue".

All the foregoing begs the question why Debbie Abrahams has decided to "stand down" from her position in the Labour Party and "go public" while she has not engaged all the above procedures?

However, it is good to see that the Labour party can carry out actions against its shadow ministers. Recently, Theresa May wished to remove her Health Secretary and he simply refused to go, but due to her weakness, she was able to do nothing (LOL)

I am in the office today, so will be unable to respond at present to any comments or questions on this post until much later.

Now back to work

Stories of harassment seem to be turning up in strange places now. There's an article in the FT about Karl Turner about sexual harassment and some pretty horrible comments.

the MP for Hull East told the woman, who had had a double mastectomy, that she “shouldn’t have got rid of her real tits because they were great" before adding “the ones you’ve got now are nice enough”

One witness made a complaint to the Labour party on behalf of the woman in December last year, but was told the party needed to receive the complaint directly from the individual who experienced the behaviour.

Good to see that even when you're recovering from breast cancer (which was mentioned in the article) you still need to follow the process, however stressful or traumatic that may be for you.

Does anyone know how many Labour MPs are currently under some sort of investigation at the moment internally? There seems to be loads.

Anyone know how the decision to make someone step down (or not) over an allegation is made?

I didn’t think that Debbie Abrahams had stood down, but that she had been asked to.

All the foregoing begs the question why Debbie Abrahams has decided to "stand down" from her position in the Labour Party and "go public" while she has not engaged all the above procedures?

I think you're confusing the process for MPs with a process for employees. Where did you get the info from?

She didn't decide to stand down. She was forced to stand down. That's why she went public.

Any chance of a response to my other questions? Still interested in discussing your 'theories' on Hamas and the Russians.

If it's true Primrose that KT said that, I'm appalled but come on re due process - you really cannot have 'hearsay' evidence being used in a situation that could finish anyone's career. I would like to know how many MPS of all parties are currently under investigation. And as some of you have said in the past re Tory MPs, an allegation doesn't mean you're guilty until the investigation has concluded. I think it's far better that due process is followed by both sides and then the findings announced but generally there is naming of names

I think that May could have moved Hunt from his position ( she is the PM after all) but that he persuaded her to give him the chance of making things work.
Of course, if you were a fly on the wall in Number Ten Grandad then you know better. LOL.

Debbie Abrahams was not told who made the allegations was she? She said she did not stand down, she was pushed . I expect the parliamentary authorities will speak to all concerned

The staff who are supposed to have complained about her are employees and there is a procedure to follow for that. If she wants to complain about employees she has to follow the same procedure, I believe. The problem here seems to be that she reacted to the allegations by going public with her own allegations - thats really made for a confusing situation.

There is a dispute I believe about whether she's been told or not

I'd be interested in a list from all parties too maryeliza with a timetable of events. These investigations drag on for months and I'm not convinced that they ever achieve anything.
I agree you can't always accept or act on hearsay evidence, but surely there must be a better way than just dismissing this given the circumstances. Some sort of 'whistleblower' policy perhaps? Sometimes the process just doesn't fit the circumstances.

On come on Primrose you can NEVER accept or act on hearsay evidence that could lead to the end of someone's career. Get real. There is apparently a disagreement between the two anonymous witnesses who went to the FT and a third person who they say was there and who denies he was.

I have not read about the disagreement between witnesses, just the FT article - can you post a link?

Should she not have been told what the allegations were and who made them?

ab we don’t know who’s been told what - generally with a complaints procedure, the person complained against would be told formally in a letter

The FT mentions different events, several witnesses and "Another MP confirmed that they had been made aware of alleged unprofessional behaviour by Mr Turner on a number of occasions"

Sometimes they just say 'a witness', 'witnesses' or 'two witnesses', depending on the allegation.So it's written in a way that implies the only real dispute is from KT via his lawyers.

It’s one of the local papers - I’ll try and refind it. Re DA btw, I really rate her- she had a long career before going into politics and has really mastered her DWP brief. If I were to make a guess, I would say that strong confident independent women like her are likely to piss certain men off

What we do seem to know re KT is that it’s true there have been complaints about him but that the woman in the ‘breast’ case has not complained herself.

Well there were at least 36 allegations of sexual impropriety made against Tory MPs following the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Have they all been investigated? They may all have been exonerated by now - or not. It seems to be out of the news now so we may never know.

There is a wonderful twitter theory going round that Momentum( of which KT is not a member or supporter( and he campaigned for OS in the leadership election) have eyes on his very safe seat....

All Hull seats are very safe, maryeliza. Always have been.