Goodbye Michael Fallon, Hello Gavin Williamson

[LeftishBrit]

3. The list seems to be a mixture of many things

From criminal (if proven) sexual assault to what are legal consensual affairs. For example, little as I like either Amber Rudd or Kwasi Kwarteng, I cannot see why their relationship should even feature: I don't think either is even cheating on another partner, let alone doing anything illegal. Can't help suspecting that some good old Tory-base racism may be contributing to the idea that this could be a scandal. At the other end of the scale, the accusations against Elphicke seem to be quite serious.

One additional point: the scandal is not only in the sexual sleaze itself, but in the claim that this was used by whips for blackmail purposes. Blackmailing people to vote against their principles or constituents (of course, the party system does that anyway to a degree) seems very ugly, and if it's not illegal, it should be. After all, bribery is rightly illegal, and this sort of blackmail is perhaps even worse because it's likely to be harder to resist. I would not be at ALL surprised if Elphicke specifically has been blackmailed by someone, as he started as a Remainer, and ended up making hysterical demands of the Labour Party to promise to 'respect the referendum result'.

Regrettably, I am quite sure that too many men in all parties have the attitude that young women, who work for them. are their personal property.