Rapist Russell Brand’s imprisonment and the impressive Guardian/ITV journalism on David Walliams has brought, again, to the public consciousness how powerful men abuse women, often more junior women who feel that if they complain, they’ll lose not only the job they have, but won’t get any other work. The media is full of freelancers who don’t have employment rights or security.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we hear that a woman has reported that Salah Fayed, brother of former Harrods owner Mohammed Al-Fayed, drugged, imprisoned and sexually assaulted her.

What I can’t get over is the fact that often this sort of behaviour is an open secret. When I was first involved in politics back in the 80s, there was no internet or WhatsApp but I was warned that certain powerful men were “not safe in taxis.” Today we hear that an informal network of women at Walliams’ publishers, Harper Collins, warning about his conduct. Yet it took more than a decade, and a change of leadership – a new woman CEO – before he was dropped by the company.

This is on top of Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and so many others.

How many more headlines will it take for organisations to recognise that they need cultural change to tackle the abuse in their midst?

The company that made Britain’s Got Talent, Fremantle, put out a statement that did not inspire confidence:

during his time on the show and in the intervening period, no complaint was ever made regarding his behaviour to Fremantle UK”, adding he hasn’t been a judge on the show for “more than four years”.

If anyone feels they have been the subject of any impropriety or wrongdoing by anyone on any Fremantle or associated labels’ productions, we encourage them to come forward,” a spokesperson says.

We will treat any complaints seriously. Protecting the welfare of our employees, freelancers, contributors and fans has always been and absolutely remains paramount for the company,

So there was no complaint, but concerning things were happening in plain sight which comedian Lucy Beaumont talked to Cathy Newman about on Sky News the other night. 

Why did nobody do anything? It cannot be an excuse that nobody complained because who’s going to take that risk? Organisations have to get a grip:

Beaumont suggested some reasons in a Guardian article: 

In TV, the very thing that makes working in the industry amazing is also the thing that gives oxygen to misconduct and abusive behaviour. You come to work, “get your head down and get the job done”, which can mean all pulling together on a project and making it work. But that attitude has its dark side. It can mean keeping your head down so as not to see clearly what’s going on right in front of you.

The harmful actions of men were, and are, seen by the people around them. Once they see it, they either worry about it or they ignore it. What happened to the women and girls wasn’t done in secret. I think this is what the very national outcry is about – because it could have been called out, stopped, and women could have been prevented from being in dangerous situations with these men. Because of this culture, the answer to “Why did people do nothing?” is maybe: they didn’t know they were meant to do anything. Or perhaps that’s letting people off the hook?

My friend Helen Tamblyn-Saville has a children’s bookshop in Retford. She told the Guardian this week that she had stopped stocking his books 6 years ago and turned down an event with him more recently.

Helen Tamblyn-Saville, owner of Wonderland Bookshop in Retford, Nottinghamshire, stopped stocking him in 2020. “They didn’t fit the ethos and values of my shop,” she says. Walliams’s books “punched down”, she believes, citing what she sees as “themes of racism, misogyny and classism” in his writings.

In 2021, HarperCollins removed a story about a Chinese boy – Brian Wong, Who Was Never, Ever Wrong – from future editions of The World’s Worst Children after complaints that it relied on harmful racial stereotypes.

In 2025, Tamblyn-Saville turned down an invitation to an event with him. “It feels very much as if the golden goose had to be protected, despite the clear red flags.”

There are very many cultural shifts we need to make but one of the most important is to shift the focus onto the very many women who have been abused getting justice rather than protecting men from the vanishingly small prospect of false allegations.

We also need to hold organisations accountable if they fail to act so I’m pleased by what Government ministers have been saying this week. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy was clear in the Commons this week:

I want to acknowledge the conviction of Russell Brand for rape and sexual assault. I pay tribute to the extraordinary women who bravely spoke out and to the persistent journalists who worked day in, day out to expose this abuse. This week we have seen other serious allegations being made. They are the latest in a long line of reported abuses of power in an industry where we have known for so long that power imbalances are huge, and that reputation and contacts are the foundations on which careers are built.

Next week, I will be meeting representatives from across media, entertainment and sport to discuss the action that we need to take, but I want to be clear with the House that if those protections are insufficient, the Government will not hesitate to take further action. For too long, too many people have had to choose between their career and their safety. People must be safe in their jobs, whistleblowers must be protected and those who abuse their position must no longer be able to hide.

Our Christine Jardine pressed her further:

Having worked in that industry, I know that the problem goes much wider than just the big figures. Bectu says that nine out of 10 workers in the creative sector have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or assault. Does the Secretary of State agree that, as this action now happens, we need to use the entertainment industry and the creative sector to call out this behaviour across society and to make it clear that it is not acceptable in any form?

Lisa Nandy replied:

We work very closely with Bectu and the National Union of Journalists, and I pay tribute to their work on this issue. The Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety and I recently appointed two freelance champions in recognition of the fact that, for freelancers in particular, there is a real problem in these industries. All of us in this House need to step up and use our voices as loudly as we possibly can; hand on my heart, as the Culture Secretary, I cannot say that this issue is not happening today—in fact, I would wager that it is. It is time that we all stand up, as the hon. Lady has done today, and ensure that we are heard and counted.

Afterwards, Christine said:

Sexual harassment and assault are not confined to high-profile individuals or the entertainment industries. But I welcome the Secretary of State’s approach.

I still hear about too many young women who have experienced inappropriate comments, approaches, or a general atmosphere that makes them uncomfortable in the workplace. We need to call that out wherever it occurs.

It’s not enough to say some big figure has gone to jail or lost their job. We need to stop this behaviour happening in the first place.

We also need to tackle attitudes towards women which foster a culture that leads to much more serious discrimination and abuse. This can range from simple things like men talking about babysitting for their own children like exceptional and not part of their job as a parent, to, in our party, women being penalised and chastised for putting the caring responsibilities which they are disproportionately overburdened with over leaflet delivery. I’ve seen this happen and I’ve seen men act with cruelty and judgement when they could just arrange some help.

On one final point, there has been some suggestion that there should be some sort of staggered age of consent where if you are 16 of 17, it would be illegal to have sex with you if you are above 20. I’m not so sure about that. I’d rather we put resources into recognising the signs of an unhealthy relationship, or proper education about consent.

And while we’re at it, we need to educate everyone of the dangers of non fatal strangulation which seems to be carried out without consent and experienced by more than a third of women aged 16-35. It’s against the law in England and northern Ireland and the thousands of prosecutions have resulted. The Scottish Government thinks that current legislation is sufficient protection, but making it an offence in its own right has the advantage of making people aware that it is not acceptable.

Every time something like this happens, we wonder if THIS will be the time things change. I, for one, am sick of waiting for women to have a fair share of the power.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social