A YOUNG parliamentary staffer who was allegedly raped by a Tory MP is "devastated" by Westminster's inaction on the issue.
The woman felt did not have the opportunity to detail her allegations in full to Chief Whip Mark Spencer, according to The Times.
Last week, Scotland Yard received allegations of sexual offences and assault relating to four incidents at addresses in London, including in Westminster.
The unnamed MP was arrested the following day on suspicion of raping the woman and was taken into custody before being bailed until mid-August.
The Tories have since come under fire for not removing the whip from the MP, with Boris Johnson and Spencer saying a decision will be made when the police investigation is concluded.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson defends decision not to suspend Tory MP accused of rape
The Sherwood MP is alleged to have asked how he could help and to have told her: “People who make threats rarely act upon them.”
He then advised her that he was “reluctant” to suspend the MP over the allegations, according to the sources, but that she should go to the “relevant authorities”.
The Chief Whip’s office said last week that Spencer “takes all allegations of harassment and abuse extremely seriously”
Spencer allegedly promised to investigate the MP informally by speaking to witnesses familiar with his suspected behaviour, before getting back to her in “a week or so”. It is understood that he has not contacted her since.
Labour’s shadow safeguarding minister Jess Phillips was among those who criticised the Tories for not suspending the whip from the MP.
She told Times Radio it sent a “terrible message” that powerful figures can secure “protection” with their Westminster status.
“While pending a police investigation for a sexual crime, I think it is only right that the whip is withdrawn,” she said.
The TUC, Women’s Aid, the Fawcett Society, the Centenary Action Group and the biggest trade unions representing staff in parliament — Prospect, Unite, PCS and the FDA — said the party is “minimising violence against women and girls”.
READ MORE: Tories 'minimising violence' by not suspending rape-accused MP
The investigation was launched days after former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in a separate case of sexually assaulting two women.
He had the whip removed in November 2017 when the allegations first surfaced, but it was controversially restored before a confidence vote in then prime minister Theresa May’s leadership the following year.
But the party suspended him again on the day Elphicke was formally charged in July 2019.
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