Former Labour MP told woman ‘I crave your body’, tribunal hears

Mike Hill is accused of a campaign of sexual harassment and bullying against the woman over a 16-month period.
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Tess de La Mare11 May 2021

A former Labour MP told a parliamentary worker “I crave your body” in text messages, according to documents submitted to an employment tribunal.

The woman, known only as Ms A, claims former Hartlepool MP Mike Hill conducted a campaign of sexual harassment and bullying against her over 16 months during his four-year stint in office.

In a witness statement submitted to the Central London Employment Tribunal the woman, who had pre-existing post-traumatic stress disorder, said Mr Hill made her feel “scared, extremely confused, violated and powerless”.

She added: “The situation he put me in kept me paralysed and helpless like a caged animal.”

I felt Mr Hill had a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality

Ms A

The claimant said Mr Hill’s behaviour exacerbated her pre-existing mental health condition.

“I felt Mr Hill had a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality in that time, he would be friendly with me, but at others, particularly after I rejected his advances, he would turn and act like he hated me,” she said.

“It got to the stage where I couldn’t cope with it any more and it was making me ill.”

Ms A said Mr Hill’s advances began with text messages, including the one about craving her body, but progressed to groping her and rubbing his erect penis against her body in his London flat.

The claimant said the incident left her “crying and shaking,” adding: “I was very distressed and confused and felt physically sick.”

She said Mr Hill had not acknowledged or apologised for the conduct, but that she had told him she felt “very threatened” by his actions and that he must not do it again.

Ms A claimed Mr Hill once told her “you must be frigid or something” when she rejected his alleged advances.

She said he would frequently rub himself against her and grab her bottom if they were both in his parliamentary office.

Ms A said she did not want to tell her family about the allegations and be forced to leave London and return home.

“I have been receiving specialist therapy and I have learned that other sufferers of coercive/narcissistic abuse did what I did which was for a time at least, to try and keep the abuser ‘on side’,” her statement said.

During cross-examination at a virtual hearing on Tuesday, Ms A acknowledged that she had previously received a £40,000 out-of-court settlement from a former employer.

Mr Hill 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.

He resigned from his seat in March of this year, triggering the by-election that saw the former red wall seat of Hartlepool swing dramatically to the Conservatives.

The tribunal, which is due to last a week-and-a-half, continues.