I am experiencing no great feeling of satisfaction this morning following David Ruffley's announcement that he will be standing down at the next election. I feel that had he been open from the start he could have saved himself, and I also believe that some sections of the Conservative Party have, once again, shown themselves to be out of touch with the realities of contemporary life. The Suffolk Domestic Abuse Partnership needs to redouble its efforts to promote understanding about domestic violence in all its forms.
David Ruffley's letter to his constituency association shows a man who still seems to be in a state of denial, a man who does not see what he has done wrong, a man who continues to blame everyone but himself. The villains of the piece are it seems the media, those who are 'misinformed', those whose motivation is in doubt. It was all a private matter which he considered 'closed' and which should have remained closed once he had apologised.
The truth is however that once an incident involves the police it can no longer be a private matter, and as a lawyer and politician Mr Ruffley must know this. He must also have known that whatever the actual facts of his particular case, any suggestion that domestic abuse was involved was unlikely to be ignored. As he once wrote himself on his website 'one incident of domestic violence is one too many'. Surely then. had he believed that the altercation in which he was involved did not constitute domestic violence, he should have told the world why. Alternatively, if abuse was suggested, openess at the start, a pledge not to reoffend and a public apology might have saved him.
Silence was interpreted as indifference by many of us who know the damage that domestic abuse causes to so many lives, and to whom such indifference is intolerable. Unfortunately silence and indifference also seemed to be the initial reaction of too many in the local and national Conservative Party.
In a hard hitting document published in March this year, the very same month that David Ruffley's caution was accepted, the Home Secretary Teresa May wrote 'I am determined that violence of all kinds against women and girls sould end'. She called violence against women 'a despicable crime which has absolutely no place in our society'.*
I think some in the Party need to follow Mrs May's lead and take her words seriously. They need to wake up to the issue and perhaps take time to learn more about the blight in society that is domestic violence.
The Suffolk Domestic Abuse Partnership should also learn from this. We make the assumption that domestic abuse is now much better understood. However understanding clearly has further to go in some quarters. We need to redouble our efforts to raise awareness, and, as the Chairman of the Partnership, I will be focussing on this in the months to come.
*A call to end violence against Women and Girls. Action Plan 2014. H,M, Government Publication
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Jenny I am sure it must have been extremely difficult for you as both a Conservative and a woman with a very well defined and clear social conscience to have been involved in this situation which has ultimately led to David Ruffley's resignation as our MP at the next General Election. However, rest assured; you have done the right thing and a brave thing.
ReplyDeleteWhilst not detracting from Mr Ruffley's record as a good constituency MP, the fact remains that not only did he handle this appallingly by trying to ride out the storm, but there is strong anecdotal evidence that this is not an isolated example of his temper getting the better of him. I am not alleging other instances of DV, but I have heard (and there are several references to this on the internet too) of bullying his office staff in the House of Commons. The turnover of his staff is something of a Westminster legend (read the the Guido Fawkes archive for more details) and there are stories of him throwing books and chairs around in his office. Staff have complained of being physically frightened and I suspect many of these were female, young and relatively poorly paid (and therefore unable or unwilling) to complain. This behaviour has no place in today's society and whilst he might have got away with it twenty or thirty years ago, it now falls under the category of work place bullying and is totally unacceptable.
You are right not to gloat, but you were right to have spoken out as you and others did.