Boris Johnson has allowed misogynistic “wild west” culture to grow in Westminster, failing to cope with the “arrogance of privately educated men”, said the only female mayor of the subway in England.
Tracy Brabin, Labor mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “The idea that someone elected by the public watches pornography on their phone while at work – I think it’s an aggressive act in the first place because women and others you will see to it that you do. And it is arrogance that they are above the law.
“I think it’s unfortunately coming from above. This behavior will only get worse due to the neglect of the leader’s duties. If you are not guided by principles, dignity, inclusion and equality, this is the Wild West. It’s free for everyone. “
Her comments come amid a renewed focus on misogyny and sexual misconduct in parliament after a series of women lawmakers came up with examples of sexism and harassment.
Labor and some senior conservatives have asked why the whip was not removed by a pornography MP who was identified by two party colleagues. Conservative chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris said the unnamed lawmaker should be directed to an independent complaint process.
Brabin, a former Labor MP for Batley and Spen, is the only woman among England’s 10 metro mayors. She heads the M10 group of mayors, which includes conservative Andy Street and Sadiq Khan of Labor, and represents 2.3 million people in West Yorkshire – meaning she is the most influential Labor woman outside of Westminster.
In an interview marking her first year in office, Brabin said she was under more pressure to present herself as the only woman and that political parties, including Labor, needed to do more to get women to take leadership positions.
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Braybin, a former Coronation Street actress, said she was not directly misogynistic during her five years in parliament because she said there was cross-party attachment to her after the murder of her friend and predecessor, Joe Cox.
The former shadow culture secretary received a series of online abuses after wearing a dress that showed part of her shoulder while speaking in the shipping box in February 2020. She responded to her abusers at the time by tweeting that “no is slag, hangover, thrill, in front of the breast, slap, drunk [or] I just crashed into a trash can. “
She said: “It was really shocking. Not scary, it was just shocking. The men interpreted what happened in a sexual way. People say of Boris Johnson or other people who come in the shipping box, “They look tired or disheveled,” but it’s not sexual. Women are always sexualized. “
Brabin likened the sexualized online abuse to comments from Tory MPs who accused Angela Raynor, a Labor deputy leader, of using a “basic instinct” trick to distract the prime minister by crossing and crossing her legs in parliament.
“It happened to Angie,” she said. “He doesn’t talk much about Boris Johnson, that his colleagues think he’s so easily distracted that he’s like a teenager who just can’t keep him in his pants, but maybe they know him better than we do.
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