WASHINGTON — After a Christmastime lunch in 2010, then-British Parliament member Mark Garnier handed his secretary cash and took her to a sex shop in the west end of London. He told her that he wanted her to go inside and purchase two vibrators, one for his wife and another for a woman in his constituency office.
Then, Caroline Edmondson told the Sun, Garnier stood outside the shop while she completed the purchase.
Another time, at a bar in front of other people, he made a vulgar reference to her breasts.
Edmondson’s claims about the employer she quit working for in 2010 spread across Britain, and then the world, on Sunday, part of an avalanche of sexual harassment accusations made against male British politicians by female colleagues.
Faced with a growing crisis, Britain’s Cabinet office has launched an investigation to determine whether Garnier broke conduct rules, according to the Associated Press. And Prime Minister Theresa May is scrambling to show the public that Britain’s political leaders are assisting female colleagues who have silently endured sexual harassment — sometimes in offices down the hall or around the corner.
Garnier, who was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and appointed to May’s Cabinet last year, acknowledged that the claims were true but dismissed his actions as harmless ‘‘hijinks.’’
‘‘I’m not going to deny it, because I’m not going to be dishonest,’’ he said, according to the AP. ‘‘I’m going to have to take it on the chin.’’
The statement about his former secretary’s breasts was a reference to a popular BBC show, he said, adding that his conduct could be taken as ‘‘dinosaur behavior’’ but ‘‘absolutely does not constitute harassment.’’
Meanwhile, accusations are ensnaring other British politicians. Stephen Crabb, a married member of Parliament whom one newspaper once deemed ‘‘the man likely to be your next Prime Minister,’’ admitted that he sent explicit text messages to a 19-year-old woman after her 2013 job interview, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
And London media have circled around reports of a WhatsApp group by aides and researchers to warn female colleagues about members of Parliament who frequently grope staff in taxis or events where alcohol is served.
According to the Sun, one minister was branded ‘‘Not Safe In Lifts’’ because of his behavior. Another was described as ‘‘handsy.’’ One message said a member of Parliament ‘‘needs a new researcher — can’t be a woman.’’
May’s official spokeswoman said, ‘‘Any reports of sexual harassment were deeply concerning, and that is true in any walk of life, including politics.’’
Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said better systems need to be put in place to protect female colleagues from harassing bosses.
