It has only ever been a minority of men, in my experience, who think that the sort of locker room talk boasted about by the likes of Donald Trump is acceptable. And there is no one I regard as a friend who would think it's normal to touch, grope or molest a colleague. Sadly, those who would act in such an unpleasant fashion tend to be men, and sometimes women, in positions of power and influence. They can assume that their elevated status gives them extra privileges and makes them as irresistible to others as they are to themselves when they look in the mirror.
It is no surprise to see rumours of sexual impropriety and bullying swirl around Westminster, as well as Hollywood. How long will it be before the media is similarly engulfed? By its very nature, politics can attract the sort of person who revels amid misplaced notions of power and privilege. Characters such as Nicholas Fairbairn and Alan Clark are indulged when in any other walk of life they would have been seen for what they were; angry, unpleasant, drunk lechers. Fairbairn, according to Matthew Parris, once remarked 'what is a skirt but an open gateway'. As is often the way, these characters create their own cliques - traditional party boundaries are irrelevant - in which such behaviour becomes normalised and encouraged.
With Michael Fallon's resignation it appears as though he thinks he has been a victim of changing times rather than his own misdeeds. We are almost being asked to feel sorry for him rather than the people with whom he now realises he has behaved inappropriately towards over the years. When Fallon claims that behaviour that would have been acceptable 10 or 15 years ago isn't now, he is wrong. Any behaviour that has forced his resignation would have been unacceptable at the turn of the millennium and years before. We must assume he has not resigned for merely touching the knee of a political journalist. What has changed is the atmosphere; enough people no longer think it reasonable for people in positions of power to get away with its abuse in the pursuit of sexual gratification.
Many of those who have come forward to recount the times they have been attacked or preyed upon have been met with comments such 'why haven't they said something before or gone to the police'. That many were targets when they were vulnerable, at the start of their careers and fearful that coming forward could jeopardise their futures is ignored. That so many of the victims remain anonymous and have chosen not to name their attackers shows these concerns still exist.
A female Conservative commentator yesterday said on Sky News that the campaign to flush out sexual predators in politics was a 'war on men'. It is not. Workplace romance has not suddenly been outlawed. For most, it is easy to tell the difference between harmless flirting and persistent unwanted sexual advances.
The problem with the apparent ‘dirty dossier’ that has been circulating is that it includes people who happen to be working together and are having ordinary relationships with each other, as well as people who appear to be suffering from great personal crises alongside possible sex pests.
If beleaguered Theresa May (has any prime minister been dealt out such a wretched hand?) can start a process that begins to weed out offenders and encourage a change in the culture then she will being doing politics and the wider country a valuable service.
