An SNP employee who accused two nationalist MPs of sexual harassment believes he has been driven to ill health by a lack of support and failure to take disciplinary action more than a year after lodging complaints.
Friends of the man, who made allegations about the Glasgow North MP Patrick Grady while he was chief whip and the North Ayrshire & Arran MP Patricia Gibson, say that the party has failed in its duty of care to him after he raised concerns.
Claims about the conduct of Grady are under investigation after the SNP employee claimed that he touched him inappropriately. There are separate claims that Grady groped two male researchers at an SNP Christmas party in 2016.
The MP, who stepped aside as SNP chief whip in March last year, has not commented but was recently photographed with SNP frontbenchers, including Ian Blackford, the party’s Westminster leader, at an event outside Downing Street showing solidarity with Ukraine.
Concerns have been expressed that Grady was protected by the party hierarchy, with charges against him not being investigated fully, claims that the SNP denies. Neither MP was suspended from the SNP group or party membership.
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At the time Grady stood down, it emerged that the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon had been aware of “a concern” about him before a harassment complaint was made against him. The party has said that concerns were raised in February 2018 but no complaint was made and the matter was dealt with “informally”.
Gibson was accused of making inappropriate comments to the male member of staff. She has said that the claims are “malicious allegations” without any foundation and remains the party’s housing spokeswoman at Westminster.
The worker withdrew his complaints to the SNP last July, criticising the party’s internal procedures as being inadequate. His allegations are still being investigated by Westminster’s independent complaints and grievance scheme, which is expected to issue its findings shortly.
A friend accused the party of paying scant regard to its duty of care to the worker’s health and wellbeing. The friend said the employee had suffered as a result of the episode and the failure of the party to provide him with support or to deal with the complaints in a timely, fair and transparent manner.
“From the time the complaints were made, SNP HQ seems to have taken next to no action on the complaints raised to them,” the friend said. “My colleague, who is an innocent party in all of this, has seen his role diminished at work, it has impacted heavily on his health and wellbeing, and he has received little support from his employers. Internally the SNP’s response to these types of complaints is at odds with the rhetoric they express in public.”
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The source added: “It is becoming clear that the SNP don’t have the structure in place to handle complaints of this nature in a robust way that is fair and transparent. It is increasingly coming across as if the SNP would rather this go away than seek a resolution to it, which is as concerning as it is disappointing for the complainant and the SNP membership as a whole.”
Friends of the complainant want the findings and associated evidence published in full.
This month the SNP employee accused Blackford of being “unfit to oversee staff” and urged workers to complain about politicians under investigation continuing in positions within the party.
The employee was contacted for comment but did not respond. Westminster’s complaints and grievance body does not comment on ongoing investigations. The SNP was also approached for comment.
