Yesterday, the Times reported that an open group letter had been sent to the 11-member body that runs the House of Commons. They asked for the removal of existing disciplinary processes, the removal of MPs from whatever process might follows and the right to take up older claims.
Dame Laura Cox’s report has exposed Westminster’s open secret — a minority of parliamentarians have been allowed to get away with this behaviour for years.
We support the conclusions of the Cox report and call upon the House of Commons, led by the House of Commons Commission, immediately to implement its three key recommendations.
More startling, though, was the list of people who signed up. I haven’t seen it published elsewhere. So, just for your reference, here they are. There are, by my count, 29 current members of staff and more than 100 signatories. This is remarkable. I cannot think of a precedent for this.
I cannot work out whether to be more surprised at the signatures of senior clerks, who have more to lose, or junior staff, who are more vulnerable. But it shows the remarkable depth of feeling. Getting a single former clerk to speak on the record about this was once a real task for us. Getting serving clerks to do this is astounding.
The notion that the clerks might go on strike about anything once seemed fanciful. No more.
Here are the names.
• Martyn Atkins, Clerk of the Procedure Committee, House of Commons
• Ashley Bachrynowki, Former Visitor Assistant, House of Commons
• Jake Barker, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Sir Kevin Barron MP, MP for Rother Valley and former Chairman of the Committee on Standards
• Dr Lis Bates, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Simon Blackburn, Former Clerk, House of Lords
• Carolyn Bowes, Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Libby Bradshaw, Former Inquiry Manager, House of Commons
• James Clarke, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Emily Commander, Deputy Principal Clerk, House of Commons
• Rachael Cox, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Frank Cranmer, Former Principal Clerk (Clerk of Bills), House of Commons
• Emily Davies, International Project Manager, BGIPU
• Nick Davies, Former MP’s researcher
• Alistair Doherty, Former Deputy Principal Clerk, House of Commons
• Fiona Eadie, President, FDA Union
• Rhiannon Edwards, British Group Inter Parliamentary Union
• Mark Egan, Former Deputy Principal Clerk, House of Commons
• Rev’d Geoffrey Farrar, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Andrew Forth, Former MP’s researcher
• Simon Fuller, Former Legal Specialist, House of Commons
• Oonagh Gay OBE, Former Library Specialist on Members’ Codes of Conduct, House of Commons
• Tom Goose, Former employee, House of Commons
• Josh Green, Former MP’s researcher
• Emily Gregory, Former Senior Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Libby Gunn, Former Legal Specialist, House of Commons
• Darren Hackett, Senior Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Catherine Haddon, Senior Fellow, Institute for Government
• Paul Hampson, Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Tom Healey, Clerk, House of Commons
• Georgina Holmes-Skelton, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Ian Hook, Senior Executive Officer, Scrutiny Unit, House of Commons
• Alexander Horne, Legal Adviser, House of Lords European Union Committee
• Lorna Horton, Former Inquiry Manager, House of Commons
• Jane Hough, Head of Business Planning and Performance, Corporate Services, House of Commons
• Lori Inglis Hall, Former Senior Committee Assistant
• Sarah Ioannou, Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Helen Irwin, Former Principal Clerk (Clerk of Committees), House of Commons
• Carole Jacotine, Former IT Customer Services Manager
• Neil Johnson, Former MP’s researcher
• Andrew Kennon, Former Principal Clerk (Clerk of Committees) House of Commons
• Libby Kurien, Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Arabella Lang, Parliament and Treaties Hub, House of Commons
• Duma Langton, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Amy Leversidge, Assistant General Secretary, FDA Union
• Charlotte Littleboy, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Rowena MacDonald, Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Justin Madders MP, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston
• Emma Makey, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Kate Maltby, Writer
• John Mann MP, MP for Bassetlaw
• David Martin, Former Senior Office Clerk, Vote Office, House of Commons
• Justine Matthews, Former Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Jenny McCullough, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Andrew McDonald, Former CEO of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
• Fiona McLean, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Zac Mead, Head of Customer and Staff Engagement, House of Commons
• Alexandra Meakin, Former Committee Specialist, Public Administration Committee and Transport Committee, House of Commons
• Jane Merrick, Political Journalist
• Sue Monaghan, Former Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Lisa Nandy MP, MP for Wigan
• Hannah Pearce, Former House of Commons media relations manager
• Dave Penman, General Secretary, FDA Union
• Jess Phillips MP, MP for Birmingham Yardley
• Sarah Price, Former Clerk, House of Lords
• Jane Quirk, Former IT Customer Relations Manager
• Dominique Rees, Deputy Director, British Group Inter Parliamentary Union
• Nerys Roberts, Senior Library Clerk, House of Commons Library
• Lucy Salek (Moore), Former Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, UK Branch
• Chris Shaw, Clerk of the BEIS select committee
• Angus Sinclair, Former Private Secretary to the Speaker
• Hannah Stewart, Legal Specialist, House of Commons
• Lauren Tait, International Projects Manager, British Group Inter Parliamentary Union
• Juliet Taylor, Contractor for House of Commons
• Djuna Thurley, FDA Branch Chair, House of Commons
• Nerys Welfoot, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Hannah White, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Louise Whitley, Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Matthew Whittaker, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Lisette Whittaker, Former Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Vivian Widgery, Former Deputy Editor of Hansard, House of Commons
• Eliot Wilson, Former Senior Clerk, House of Commons
• Sarah Wollaston MP, MP for Totnes and Chair, Liaison Committee and Health Committee
• Aileen Walker, Former Director of Public Engagement, House of Commons
• Kate Faragher, MD of BeSpokeSkills, facilitator and trainer
• Joanne Dunne (nee Larcombe), Former Committee Secretary, House of Commons
• Louise Butcher, Senior Research Clerk, House of Commons Library
• Gabriella Liberotti-Harrison, International Project Manager, House of Commons
• Fergus Reid, Deputy Principal Clerk, House of Commons
• Steven Ayers, Former Library Clerk and Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Alasdair MacKenzie, Education and Outreach Manager, UK Parliament
• Daniel Whitford, Former Assistant Clerk, House of Commons
• Sarah Clarkson, Former Deputy Representative of the House of Commons to the EU
• Rebecca Short, Former Clerk, House of Commons
• Maria Miller MP, MP for Basingstoke and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee
• Chris Tyler, Former Director of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
• Sam Baker, Former Political Advisor
• Richard Dawson, Senior Committee Assistant, House of Commons
• Amy Tarr, Former Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Ruth Martin, Former Committee Specialist, House of Commons
• Caroline Lucas MP, MP for Brighton Pavilion
• Kate Tarlow, formerly Trumper, Former Committee Specialist, House of Commons
