Ann Widdecombe on Westminster scandal: 'Most of this has been a lot of nonsense'
I do not consider a mildly flirtatious remark sexual harassment. And actually, I don’t think that the vast majority of the nation do.
Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe has told Good Morning Britain that a 'sense of proportionality' has been lost during the Westminster ‘sleaze scandal’.
On Tuesday morning she told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid she thinks a lot of the allegations are 'a lot of nonsense' and that she thinks many would agree with her.
Ann said: “My problem has been with the whole of this chaotic scandal, which has engulfed Westminster. There are serious complaints, and those I take very seriously indeed. But most of this has been a lot of nonsense. I do not consider a mildly flirtatious remark sexual harassment. And actually, I don’t think that the vast majority of the nation do.
“Sense of proportionality has just deserted the whole thing - people putting in complaints 15 years later that they may have been likely touched. Normally, that would just make me laugh."
She continued: "What I worry about is this, we are already as a society at a stage where people are dubious about putting an arm around a distressed child because they feel it might be misinterpreted. Are we really going to get to the stage where no man can make a flirtatious comment, can make a light touch, can give a pat of encouragement, can give a touch of comfort, whatever it might be, where human beings feel they might have to stand off from each other? If so, that’s not some new age of enlightenment, that’s a dark age."
Watch the full interview above
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