Watching Under the Shade of the Hypocrisy Tree

Reflections on the sex and bullying scandels playing out in the UK and what they tell all of us about ourselves, if afterall, we've got the politicians we deserve. I also draw parallel's with the workplace and HR and point to lessons for all us.

Trickle down economics relies upon the super rich showing moral leadership and communal responsibility – a sense of human obligation prompting latter investment in socially beneficial schemes. The theory says their super wealth is acquired through them being cleverer and more entrepreneurial so it is better to let them choose how to distribute their excess profits than the stupid poor (aka 95% of us) or the failed businessmen we give our taxes to (aka our politicians).

It's easy to see the flaws in this logic when so many of the trickle-down champions have no sense of moral or social awareness in their own day-to-day conduct. Michael Fabricant's performance on radio and TV this week, saying you can't blame a chap if he embarrasses himself when ‘sloshed', epitomises this particular branch of the Hypocrisy Tree during this Autumn's political fall.

However, 30 years of rising inequality, the return of food banks, homelessness and the panic around a ¼% rise in interest rates now we're in an age where wages are so low saving’s a historical concept – these are all much more obvious clues to the failings of trickle down theory. These have been largely ignored for years. Voters have made their choice, repeatedly, on this - choosing low taxation and ‘I don't give a shit as long as I'm ok,’ over wider social and economic sense. We can heuristically mock Fabricant and Co and make ourselves feel better by tutting at the tele but how many of us are guilt free here?

Trickle-down flowers at the top of the Hypocrisy Tree. Most of the country seems to have been gorging on the bitter fruits, falling from the lower branches this week. In at last holding a mirror up to Westminster we should all, if we genuinely care under our tutts, hold a mirror up to ourselves and ask how we, collectively, respond to these behaviours in our workplaces, social clubs and families.

TORIES EATING THEMSELVES

The bulk of scandal’s centred on the dramas in the Tory Party, as it eats itself in public like a political remake of ‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover’ (Have fun making up possible titles with bonus points for any not starting with The Cock...)

It's humanly difficult not to be drawn to the absurdity of powerful people playing out a live drama when the trailers show a Minister resigning because his sexual conduct didn't meet traditional military standards (?) and he's replaced by someone called the Chief Whip, famed for keeping a giant spider on his desk at work to intimidate colleagues...who's not going to watch that, as long as their kids have gone to bed?

OH, KELVIN…

But we can learn more from a clearer sub-plot watering the Hypocrisy Tree.

Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins had the whip removed (ouch!) whilst his party investigates allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct towards a young party activist (49 years his junior). Start the debate, not least in my own head.

On one side, the trade union official in me says hold-up. He isn't accused of anything illegal and what he's accused of wouldn't get you sacked in any city firm or most factories or offices. He's also already been reprimanded and natural justice says you can't be tried twice for the same offence.

But that just doesn’t feel right either. Because he's an MP, a leader, and a pious left wing campaigner, who’s spent 50 years telling people about equality and respect so of course he should be held to an appropriate standard even if he may get away with such conduct as a senior member in a bank. If Kelvin Hopkins wants to behave like a banker f $$k off to the City and leave the Labour Party to those of us who live by what we think it stands for...that's from the emotional, pious leftie side of me.

For me the truth this hinges on the ‘reprimanded’ bit - that bit we can all probably relate to. I'd bet most of us can think of someone who has abused their power and authority at work, either sexually or in other forms of bullying. Most of us could probably think of an example where someone junior found the courage to challenge this and frankly got fobbed off...the problem being acknowledged but the perpetrator being too senior and the offence not damaging enough to the organisation to be more than acknowledged.

LEADERS' PRIVILEGE

Hands-up if you know someone who got an apology at work and thought that wasn't particularly satisfactory but at least they’d made their point and dropped the fuss thinking hopefully both the perpetrator would think twice in future and the organisation would keep an eye on things. Usually they also have to swallow not knowing the details of any reprimand as it isn't helpful or appropriate to humiliate the perpetrator; and they're expected to trust their organisation when they say sorry and reassure them they are and have dealt with the perpetrator. The victims accept it because they're tired, they want to trust their organisation, and if they're lucky enough to have had access to union support, they’ll have had people like me advising them on all of this and on their limited employment rights and other options.

Now, before even thinking about blaming the victim and loudly tutting about them coming forward again, imagine how angry and frustrated the person’s you know would feel if the apology from the organisation was blown up in their face and weeks later the perpetrator gets promoted – in this case to one of the best job in politics… getting sent to great events with loads of young, famous people as Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport.

Now I'm not and never will be a hang them and flog them type. I don't believe in zero tolerance policies because they don't work and fail to recognise mistakes happen. They make it harder to challenge the powerful perp. I also believe in rehabilitation. It is human to seek to forgive and I believe in second chances. And sometimes creepy old men do just need to be told.

In Kelvin Hopkins’ case the big question has become is he now being sacked and humiliated because his Party lied about taking the complaint seriously? Why was the reprimand sufficient then but not now? It seems disappointingly obvious - at that point having a loyalist in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet was deemed more important than his lecherous habits. Instead of his conduct raising a flag that says the 73 year old’s time was up and his being quietly guided towards a dignified exit at the next election he was promoted!

So now he has to be biblically humiliated and seen to be punished, publically because further evidence has come to light when so far none has been publically identified even by the victim talking openly, encouraged by the other victims of low grade but still corrosive sexual harassment in and around Westminster over decades. Retrospectively, Corbyn's office have to be seen to be serious. But that for me just exposes the hypocrisy. At this point, it is Corbyn who should be forced to apologise as much as Hopkins...instead he says it was perfectly reasonable to promote someone who’d been told off for such misconduct. Why? Does Corbyn think it isn’t really serious?

And it isn’t just the usually saintly Corbyn who I’m complaining about here (although I doubt anyone will be rushing to say he’s been on the right side of history on this one). Every single one of the political leaders should be asking themselves some very serious questions before they can ask serious questions of others. All will currently be trying to remember all the cases they’d been told about and parked, dismissed or relegated to not serious and which now in the current climate risks leaving them politically exposed…

This is why this farce is actually important and serious for all of us. The sane and wise heads in the play call for Parliament to step-up and impose independent HR rules to police the Party's who can't be expected to police themselves. Apart from the hideous abuse Phillips and others holding mirrors to their Party face on social media which proves their point, there is a big problem with this. However pragmatic that advice is, how are we supposed to trust politicians and Party's to manage the country and offer moral leadership and judgement when we can't trust them to manage themselves and their own clubs?

That’s where we all have to look in the mirror. We get the politicians we deserve. If these things really matter to us as much as they should; if we want politicians who exercise judgement firstly as a human before considering Party and self; and if we really think these indiscretions matter then getting someone else to sort the naughty MPs out isn’t enough.

PUTTING THE HUMAN IN HR

This should be equally true to the HR professional part of me. How many HRBP’s are watching this farce and making the link to when similar incidents have, or will, cross their desks at work. Will they be standing up to the Boss who responds and says:

“Yes awful, he is a bit of a bully – I’ll have another word with him. Now can you move her so she’s out of his way and not likely to cause us any more problems?”

Will they be saying:

“Sorry Boss, are you serious. You’ve just said you’ve had to talk to him about this before. This is a business risk as well as just wrong. We need to properly discipline him, get him on some training and help so that he sees why this isn’t acceptable, and if he doesn’t learn his lesson this time he may have to go. He’s damaging all of us by abusing his power. And if we move her it looks like we’re punishing her for speaking-up when we should be thinking, “Wow, this is someone who will stand up to power, we could do with a bit more of that.” Would you like to reconsider Boss?”

I hope more and more of the HR professionals coming through the courses I’ve been doing in the last few years would respond like that. For a start most of them are women. But I fear there’s still a long way to go and that’s part of why this farce in Westminster is getting the audience it is, even when much of it’s uncomfortable viewing.

It’s critical for us as a society that we do find the collective strength to challenge upwards on these behaviours. These things really do matter because our leaders really do need to set a higher example. Voters, workers, club mates need to trust and respect their leaders and their leaders need to respect them. If respect towards all others are part of our values these need to be more than spoken but lived and shared. I’m not asking for our leaders to be saints but just decent, respectful human beings. Only if human values come back into play and are put before vested interest can we seriously hope to start addressing the bigger social and economic problems. Sexism and misogyny feed off the same stagnant pools that have sustained Trickle-down Theory, whilst tackling mistrust and disengagement at work are core to improving our nation’s low productivity.

But largely most of us don't challenge. Largely we've not been speaking-up. I've seen plenty of tweets from Corbyn fans ‘shocked by Fallon and the ‘Tories sense of entitlement’ but very few from Labour supporters saying we need to get our house in order. When Jess Phillips or Stella Creasy says Labour were wrong to promote Kelvin Hopkins they get threatened with de-selection and accused of deliberately helping the Tories. I’ve also put out quite a few posts and tweets suggesting this isn't just a Tory problem and that we all know union leaders who've displayed a sense of entitlement at times – these have largely been met with silence…

Until we stand up together – at work, at home, in our clubs and at the selection meetings and ballot boxes; until we challenge the sexism, misogyny, racism and all of the other forms of bullying and abuses of power we encounter; until we engage as humans – until then our society will continue to produce these perverse dramas and we’ll all carry on huddling under the shade of the Hypocrisy Tree to watch.

Until we stand up together – at work, at home, in our clubs and at the selection meetings and ballot boxes; until we challenge the sexism, misogyny, racism and all of the other forms

uses of power we encounter; until we engage as humans – until then our society will continue to produce these perverse dramas and we’ll all carry on huddling under the shade of the Hypocrisy Tree to watch.