Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, and his deputy, Jo Swinson, have written to the Metropolitan Police urging them to investigate claims of sexual harassment at the Presidents Club charity fundraiser.
Jess Phillips, chair of the women’s parliamentary Labour party, is also understood to have contacted the police.
On Twitter she called on men who were there to report what they saw to the police.
.To the men who were at the #PresidentsClub if you saw groping and were appalled I give you a nudge to contact the police and give the names and details to the police.
— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) January 25, 2018
But a police spokesman said that they have “no knowledge of any offences reported”.
Earlier this week Culture minister Margot James told Newsnight that the government is also looking at whether there have been any breaches of the law.
The Presidents Club Charitable Trust has said it will wind up after a Financial Times investigation exposed sexual harassment at a gala men-only dinner, which raised around £2m for children’s charities.
Many charities have expressed their revulsion at the behaviour reported and either handed back or refused donations.
Calls for a change to the law
MPs are also calling for a change in the law.
Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central has written to the Prime Minister Theresa May calling for a change in the law, to reintroduce section 40 of the Equality Act 2010.
This was a provision to protect employees against harassment by a third party, when employers might have reasonably been aware of the risk, that was repealed in 2013.
Butler said: “At a time when the need to protect women from harassment at work and tackle sexist and misogynistic culture is a high priority, the government must take serious action to address these concerns,” she said.
Today I have written to @theresa_may following the #PresidentsClub scandal. I am calling the government to reverse the decision taken by the Coalition government in 2013 to remove employee protections against third party harassment from the Equality Act 2010. #BringBackSec40 pic.twitter.com/wDXkPuQkHp
— (((Dawn Butler MP))) (@DawnButlerBrent) January 25, 2018
Elsewhere the Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the agency which supplied the workers and to the Charity Commission.
It said it would be “seeking reassurance” from the charity regulator that it would investigate and offer support.
Counter fundraiser launched
Dame Helena Morrisey, head of personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club, has announced that she is planning to hold a fundraising event to raise money for charities that have lost out.
Writing in the Telegraph she said: “We need to work together with men, and put the attitudes that have led to these recent events firmly in the past where they belong. As a start, a group of us in the City – men and women involved in the fund management industry’s Diversity Project - are putting together an alternative dinner at the Mansion House - with a 50/50 gender split in the attendance and very different ‘entertainment’ - to raise funds for those charities that felt compelled to turn down the Presidents Club's donations.”
New Charity Commission advice
The Charity Commission today published fresh advice for charities wishing to return donations.
It said: “It is up to a charity’s trustees to make the difficult decision as to whether they should refuse a donation.”
On returning donations the Commission said: “Trustees should think carefully about, and be able to demonstrate, what is in the best interest of their charities.”
It said in some cases authorisation may be needed from the Commission: “There may be restrictions on whether a donation can be returned and the Commission may need to authorise such returns. Charities should seek the Commission’s advice about whether our authorisation is required in their specific case.”
Any charity looking for advice should email [email protected] with The Presidents Club in the subject line.
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