A shadow minister has quit after being accused of trying to intimidate a colleague seeking to assist a parliamentary worker who raised allegations of sexual harassment against a former Labour MP.
Kate Hollern left her role on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench after the allegations were made during an employment tribunal against Mike Hill.
The parliamentary worker accuses Hill, the former Hartlepool MP, of carrying out a campaign of sexual harassment and bullying against her over a 16-month period while he was in office.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told the Central London Employment Tribunal that Hollern made “malicious” remarks designed to “scare” him away from helping the woman.
Labour has confirmed that Hollern, the MP for Blackburn, had resigned as shadow minister for local government, but did not comment further.
Bridgen told the tribunal that the woman, known only as Ms A, had confided in him that she was allegedly being “sexually harassed and sexually assaulted”.
Hill denies the allegations against him and the tribunal, due to last a week and a half, continues.
He was suspended from the Labour Party in September 2019 over the allegations but was reinstated in October of that year to fight the general election.
Hill resigned from his seat in March this year, triggering a by-election that saw his seat taken by the Conservatives.
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