Our thanks to Jim for this piece on the BBC. So far as I know, nobody has yet corroborated the FT journalist’s story. The piece contains part of her interview by Evan Davis on Newsnight last night. When asked to describe the event she starts, “It’s impossible to describe. Incredibly loud, a huge amount of testosterone in the room…”. 350 men, and testosterone in the room? Shouldn’t be allowed. They should have been required to deposit their testicles in the cloakroom, before entering the event. Extracts from the BBC piece, emphases ours:
Event compere David Walliams said he was “appalled” by the claims but had not witnessed anything…
Madison Marriage, the Financial Times reporter who worked at the event, said she and “numerous other hostesses” were groped at the event.
She said the 130 hostesses were told to wear skimpy black outfits with matching underwear and high heels and also that they could drink alcohol while working. [J4MB: Those evil patriarchs! I’ll bet they abused the women financially, by covering the cost of their alcoholic drinks.]
They were asked to sign a five-page non-disclosure agreement about the event upon arrival at the hotel, Ms Marriage said, [J4MB: In which case she’s presumably in breach of contract, and hopefully the Presidents Club will bring a legal action against her] and were not warned they might be sexually harassed…
A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Zahawi [J4MB: Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for Children and Families] had “attended briefly and felt uncomfortable at what had begun to happen.”
Mr Zahawi told Newsnight: “I didn’t stay long enough to really comment on the occasion.”
Mr Zahawi later tweeted: “I do unequivocally condemn this behaviour. The report is truly shocking. I will never attend a men only function ever.”
WPP, the world’s biggest advertising agency, which had sponsored a table at the dinner, said it was withdrawing its future support.
Boss Sir Martin Sorrell, who did not attend, told BBC Radio 4’s Today his guests did not see such behaviour and said: “We won’t support the charity in future, which is regrettable because it is a charity that supports numerous children’s charities and has done a lot of good work.”
Real estate investment business Frogmore said the guests at its table were “unaware of any of the described events but in no way condone this behaviour” [J4MB: they don’t condone alleged behaviour which may be the figment of feminists’ fertile imaginations] and it will now end its association with the event.
We’ve emailed the female boss at the Arista agency to enquire about hiring a couple of hostesses to work at the July conference. They could inject the glamour which has perhaps been lacking at previous conferences. We need to challenge feminists who seek to deny employment to women who are “tall, slim, and pretty”, the alleged requirements for hostesses at the Presidents Club dinner. Those women need our support. In the interests of diversity, feminists will surely be keen to employ short, fat, ugly bearded lesbians for their own conferences.
