Westminster Sexual Harassment Scandal Rotten Establishment Must Go

Westminster continues to be buffeted by new waves of the sexual harassment scandal. One Tory minister - Michael Fallon - has been forced out, with others barely clinging on.

- Hannah Sell

The collapse of this extremely weak Tory government could still be triggered by these events. As we predicted, however, it has not only been the Tories that have been affected, but all the major parties.

This is no surprise. The majority of MPs in parliament have spent their entire careers acting in the interests of a tiny minority - the capitalist elite - and inflicting misery on the rest of us. Among the hundreds of MPs who have voted for benefit cuts, the savaging of public services, wage restraint and war there were bound to be some who have also used their power and status to sexually abuse or harass women and men with less power than them.

That is not to suggest that it is only right-wing, pro-capitalist MPs who can be guilty of harassment. The oppression of women remains deeply rooted in the structure of society, despite the steps forward that have been won through struggle in recent decades. It pervades all parts of society and must be fought wherever it is found.