Labour MP reveals she was threatened with gang rape at Cambridge University

11 May 2022, 22:45 | Updated: 12 May 2022, 07:30

A Labour MP has revealed that she was threatened with gang rape during a two-year campaign of sexual harassment at Cambridge University.

Stella Creasy said her first experience of sexual harassment was during her first year at Magdalene College, with it lasting from 1996 to 1998.

It included a campaign of abusive posters when she ran for the role of president of the college's student council, she said.

But she claimed college authorities "admonished" her instead of punishing the abusers when she made a complaint.

The Walthamstow MP went on to say she remained "terrified" of bumping into the same group of men, who had gone on to become doctors, civil servants and "high-fliers".

She claimed a culture of "privilege and entitlement" was behind the string of allegations of misconduct that she and other politicians were sharing, and warned it was not unique to Parliament.

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Ms Creasy told GB News: "I'll never forget the night that I was in a room with them all and they threatened to gang rape me, let alone the posters that they put up around the college when I had the temerity to stand for a position in the student union, telling people not to vote for me because of who I'd slept with, and that happened at a Cambridge college."

The MP added that sexual harassment remained a major issue in universities.

"I tell you that because I think that culture isn't unique to Parliament, where there's privilege and entitlement, and, frankly, it's always the men that people think are least likely to do it who are involved in it," she said.

She went on to say: "I was held up and I was admonished by the college authorities at the time because they chose to believe the idea that I was probably 'a wronged woman'.

"And, as I say, it took public humiliation, and posters, and finally other people coming forward, and me collating the evidence - of all the notes, the spitting in my room, the rubbish that was thrown at me, the sexual abuse and harassment if I tried to walk into the bar, that came from this group of young men.

"I'm in my mid-40s now and it's the first time I've really felt even willing to talk about it.

"It was terrifying at the time, I'm terrified I'll ever run into those young men again.

"And I say that because, several years after I left university, I did exactly that - I walked into a bar and they were all sat there, and I collapsed inside and left as soon as I could."

Ms Creasy, a prominent campaigner for women's rights including fighting for maternity leave for MPs, has said the abuse will always affect her.

"But one of the things I want to say to women who have experienced those things in life and to the women in Parliament now, is that you will find allies, you will find those of us prepared to stand with you because we know what it's like, we know how hard it is and we know the impact it can have on you," she said.

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Cambridge University apologised to Ms Creasy for her "horrific ordeal", and was expected to be in contact with the MP personally.

A university spokesman said: "We are extremely sorry to hear of the horrific ordeal which Stella Creasy experienced.

"Sexual harassment of any sort has absolutely no place at the university.

"In recent years the university has taken significant steps in order to provide support for victims of sexual misconduct, to improve systems for reporting any incidents, and to take action as a result.

"We urge anyone who experiences any form of harassment or abuse to report it so that they can be offered support and action can be taken."