LONDON – Senior lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament demanded tougher laws against harassment Wednesday after a Financial Times investigation found that women were groped at a men-only charity gala attended by hundreds of senior executives.
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Last week’s event at London’s Dorchester Hotel, which was held to raise money for charities, featured some 100 female hostesses, including two undercover FT reporters. The journalists described harassment, lewd comments and “repeated requests to join diners in bedrooms elsewhere in the Dorchester.”
The event also featured auction prizes of tea with Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney, and lunch with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. One lot offered a trip to a strip club while another provided a chance for plastic surgery at a private clinic, with the promise to “take years off your life or add spice to your wife.”
Outrage was swift. One charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital, said it would return previous donations and sever ties with the Presidents Club — the charitable trust that organized the event — while at least one business which had once sponsored a table at the event broke its ties.
“Let’s hope every man who attended this event will think twice before accepting another invitation to a ‘men only’ event with more than 100 female hostesses,” parliamentary equalities committee chair Maria Miller tweeted.
The fury comes at a time of reckoning for many men in positions of power as women speak out about sexual misconduct, sparked in part by the scandal surrounding Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Women rallied on three continents over the weekend to demand equality and to mark the anniversary of the inauguration of President Donald Trump, whose election in 2016 sparked the first wave of mass protests.
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The Presidents Club dinner is an annual event for a group that claims it has raised some 20 million pounds ($28 million) for children’s charities over the past 33 years.
The FT reported that women working for the black-tie event were given short, tight, black dresses, black high heels and a black belt resembling a corset. They told of men repeatedly putting hands up their skirts, while in another incident, one attendee exposed his penis to a hostess during the evening, the newspaper said.
“Some of the behavior was pretty shocking, quite depressing, if I am honest,” reporter Madison Marriage said in a video about her work on the story.
The event, hosted by comedian and children’s author David Walliams, has included some of Britain’s biggest names in business, sports and the media. Among them was WPP, the FTSE 100 advertising conglomerate, which has traditionally sponsored a table at the event.
“Neither the company nor our attendees were aware of the alleged incidents until informed of them by the Financial Times,” the company said in a statement. “WPP takes these reports very seriously and, while we will continue to support relevant charities, in light of the allegations we are ending our association with the event.”
The organizers of the event promised an investigation.
“Such behavior is totally unacceptable,” the Presidents Club said in a statement. “The allegations will be investigated fully and promptly and appropriate action taken.”
