THE SNP has come under fire over the handling of complaints of harassment against two of its MPs.
The party's chief whip at Westminster, Patrick Grady, has stepped down from his role while an investigation takes place, and another MP is still in her senior role despite also being subject to an investigation about alleged sexual harassment.
The Herald has put together a timeline of what is currently known about the claims, when the incidents are alleged to have happened and when they were reported to the SNP.
October 20 2016 – Patrick Grady and an SNP employee join other party members at London’s Water Poet pub, where it is alleged Mr Grady touched the back of the man’s neck and put his hand down the inside of his collar.
December 15 2016 – It is alleged Mr Grady inappropriately groped two male members of staff at the SNP Christmas party at London’s Phoenix Artist Club.
June 9 2017 – Patrick Grady is promoted to Chief Whip of the SNP at Westminster and is now working with the employee who was involved in the Water Poet pub incident.
October 2017 – #MeToo Scandal hits Westminster as claims of inappropriate behaviour emerge against MPs and peers across various political parties.
October/November 2017 – SNP employee working with Patrick Grady is contacted by the SNP’s HR team after it was alerted to the October 2016 incident. The man says he was asked if he wanted to move jobs, and he said no. He claims he was called to a meeting with SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, and Mr Grady was there, and he apologised for what had happened.
December 2017 – A letter is sent by SNP staff to John Bercow raising concerns about the alleged incidents at the SNP Christmas Party in December 2016.
January 2018 – A further letter is sent to John Bercow about the Christmas party allegations, and warning that Mr Grady is being ‘protected’ by the SNP. Both letters are passed to the SNP’s compliance team.
January 2020 – The SNP employee who was involved in the Water Poet pub incident is in Stranger’s bar at Westminster and claims a female MP was drunk, inappropriate, and asked him to go home with her. He says he raised the issue with Patrick Grady, the chief whip and his manager, the following day, and alleges nothing was done.
February 2021 – The SNP employee complains to SNP HQ about the incident with the female MP in the pub the previous year and about Patrick Grady. He is informed that the party’s National Secretary cannot act on sexual harassment claims in the workplace, and advised to go to Westminster’s parliamentary authorities, and given information about what else he can do.
March 8 2021 – The Daily Record publishes details of the alleged incidents at the Water Poet pub and at Strangers bar. Neither MP is named, and the female MP strenuously denies the allegations. The SNP said that no formal complaint had been made about either incident but the complainant had been given advice on what steps he could take.
READ MORE: SNP worker accuses two SNP MPs of inappropriate touching and sexual misconduct
March 9 2021– The Herald publishes an account of a witness to the alleged incident involving a female MP in Strangers bar, corroborating what the complainer alleges. We also revealed that another SNP MP was at the bar the same night and saw what happened, and has been in touch with SNP HQ about the incident. The female MP continues to deny the allegations.
READ MORE: SNP under pressure to suspend two MPs at centre of harassment claims as new witness speaks out
March 9 -The complainer contacts the SNP again to re-state that the complaint he sent in February was his official complaint, despite the party previously saying no complaint had been made.
March 9 – The Herald contacts the SNP about letters from staff raising concerns about Mr Grady’s behaviour at the 2016 Christmas party and asks what had been done about the concerns. No response is provided.
March 10- The Herald names Patrick Grady as the MP involved in the Water Poet pub incident, as well as revealing that two letters were sent to the House of Commons speaker saying staff were concerned about alleged incidents at the SNP’s Christmas party in 2016.
READ MORE: SNP 'protected' chief whip Patrick Grady over grope allegations
March 10 -The SNP says that a formal complaint has now been lodged about the Water Poet incident and about the Strangers Bar incident and it will not comment further.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel