The focus on sexual pestering in showbusiness, beginning with the Harvey Weinstein scandal, has shifted to the world of Westminster. Heads are already beginning to roll, with Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon admitting to ‘inappropriate conduct’ with journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer. She had refused to name him, saying she had dealt with the incident years ago, but now the sex pest hunt is ‘developing a life of its own and has the distinctly sulphurous smell of a witch-hunt’.
Deeply unpleasant and distasteful as these revelations are, most have not been reported to police, let alone brought to court, and yet those accused are being treated as guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.
This makes a travesty of our justice system, and also provides a convenient distraction from the horrendous problem of organised child sexual crime in this country. If the unwieldy inquiry into that scandal ever reaches a conclusion, it will be too late for the victims (as proved in a court of law), although convenient for the real perpetrators and those in government who continue to look the other way.
