// On 21 May 2021 the complainant, a young woman and junior member of the respondent MP’s Parliamentary team, made a complaint under the House of Commons Independent Complaints Grievance Scheme (ICGS). She alleged that the respondent had behaved inappropriately towards her on a number of occasions, each involving sexual misconduct.
The conduct complained of included the following: inappropriate sexual remarks about other women; invading the complainant’s personal space and unwanted touching at work social events; inappropriate and unwanted hugs; a sexually motivated invitation to take a secret trip to Gibraltar; and sexually motivated incidents at and after a formal work social dinner, with personal comments about her looks, linking arms, holding her hand, holding her by the arms, inviting her to come back to his flat, two kisses on the forehead and an attempted kiss on the mouth, all of which were unwanted and unwelcome.
The respondent denied the more serious allegations. He accepted that he had been in breach of the Sexual Misconduct Policy after the formal dinner because he kissed her on the forehead. He also accepted that he had blurred the boundaries between employer and employee and been too ‘fatherly’ and ‘friendly’. But he denied that he was ‘sexually motivated’ at any time.
The complaint was investigated under the ICGS and on 13 July 2022 the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (the Commissioner) found certain allegations of sexual misconduct proved. The Commissioner found that all conduct complained of (except the invasion of personal space) was proved and involved breaches of the Behaviour Code. //
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/mps-lords--offices/standards-and-financial-interests/independent-expert-panel/hc-823---the-conduct-of-mr-christian-matheson-mp.pdf