Patrick Grady
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Chief Whip of the Scottish National Party
in the House of Commons
In office
9 June 2017 – 9 March 2021
LeaderIan Blackford
Preceded byMichael Weir
Succeeded byOwen Thompson
Member of Parliament
for Glasgow North
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byAnn McKechin
Majority5,601 (15.5%)
Personal details
Born
Patrick John Grady

(1980-02-05) 5 February 1980
Edinburgh, Scotland
Political partyScottish National Party (since 1997)
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2022)
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde
WebsiteOfficial website

Patrick John Grady (born 5 February 1980) is a Scottish politician.[1] He was elected at the 2015 UK general election as the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North.[2] He was re-elected in 2017 and in 2019.

Early life

Grady was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was brought up in Inverness and was educated at Inverness Royal Academy, before attending the University of Strathclyde.[3] Between 2011 and 2015, he worked as an advocacy manager for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, and has also lived and worked in London and Malawi.

Political career

After joining the Scottish National Party in 1997, aged seventeen, Grady stood at the 2010 general election as the SNP candidate for Glasgow North.[4] In 2012, he was elected as National Secretary of the SNP until he stood down in 2016.[4] He headed the "Yes" campaign in the Kelvin area of Glasgow during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence.[5]

After being elected to the House of Commons, Grady was appointed as SNP Westminster Spokesperson on International Development and was a member of the House of Commons Procedure Committee until the 2017 election.[6] Like several SNP MPs and MSPs, he also holds membership of Plaid Cymru, although this has no formal effect in the House of Commons.[7] After the 2017 election, he was appointed as Chief Whip of the SNP Westminster Group, and was re-appointed to this role after the 2019 election.[8]

In March 2021, Grady stood aside from his position as Chief Whip following the SNP confirming it had received a complaint of sexual misconduct by an SNP staff member.[9][10][11][12]

On 26 June 2022, he temporarily suspended his membership of the Scottish National Party (SNP), sitting as an independent MP[13] until 29 December 2022 when Grady's whip was restored.[14]

Recipient of offensive communications

In December 2021, a woman was convicted of an offence under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 after a sheriff determined that emails that she sent to Grady in February 2021 were grossly offensive.[15]

Announcement of Prime Minister's Resignation in the House of Commons

On 20 October 2022, Liz Truss announced her decision to resign as Prime Minister while Business Questions was underway in the House of Commons. Grady was the first Member of Parliament to make reference to this decision, which was not directly acknowledged by the Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt.[16]

Sexual misconduct allegations

In March 2021, newspapers reported that an anonymous letter sent to the House of Commons Speaker John Bercow in 2017 claimed "A member of staff recently left the SNP who was groped sexually by Patrick Grady at last year's Christmas Party. There was another male staff member who was groped sexually by Mr Grady the same night of last year".[17]

Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont wrote to SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford in 2021 urging him to explain why no action was taken after sexual harassment allegations were made against Grady four years earlier, and why the party had not suspended him whilst the investigation was underway.[18]

In April 2021, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that she was aware of a concern about Grady before a misconduct complaint was made against him.[10] On 16 April, a story appeared in The Times stating that the alleged sexual harassment complaint against Grady had been upheld. He allegedly "inappropriately" touched an SNP male staff member, then aged 19, in a London pub. The alleged victim was then in a meeting with Blackford and Grady regarding the matter, which the alleged victim described as an "ambush".[19]

In June 2022, the Commissioner for Standards concluded Grady had breached sexual misconduct policy upholding a complaint that he had made "an unwanted sexual advance" to a junior member of staff by stroking their hair, neck and back. The report stated "The distinction in age, status and authority between him and the respondent is obvious and forms a key aggravating factor in the case."[20][21] In the same month, a report from the Independent Expert Panel published advice that Grady should be suspended from the House of Commons.[22]

On 26 June 2022 it was announced that the Metropolitan Police had received an allegation against him of sexual assault. The SNP announced that he would step away from his party membership while this matter was dealt with.[13] On 3 July 2022, the Metropolitan Police announced that following discussions with the staff member, they would take no further action.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "House Of Commons contact details for Patrick Grady MP". Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  2. ↑ Profile, bbc.co.uk; accessed 8 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Leask, David (1 June 2015). "Analysis: SNP bucks trend for privately educated MPs". The Herald. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Patrick Grady". The SNP. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Braiden, Gerry (18 September 2014). "Key battlegrounds: Glasgow". The Herald. Newsquest. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Patrick Grady MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "I sit on the SNP benches, but I'm a Plaid Cymru member too - Grady". BBC News. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "Patrick Grady MP, Glasgow North - TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "SNP chief whip steps aside following harassment complaint". BBC News. 10 March 2021.
  10. 1 2 "Sturgeon 'aware of a concern' about MP Patrick Grady". BBC News. 15 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Patrick Grady stands down as SNP chief whip 'amid sexual harassment allegations'". Belfasttelegraph – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  12. ↑ Barrie, Douglas (10 March 2021). "Patrick Grady stands down as SNP chief whip 'amid sexual harassment allegations'". www.standard.co.uk.
  13. 1 2 "Patrick Grady to step away from SNP membership over allegations". BBC News. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "MP has SNP whip restored following misconduct ban". BBC News. 29 December 2022.
  15. ↑ Skilling, Mitchell (6 December 2021). "Sheriff Appeal Court refuses appeal by Glasgow woman convicted of sending offensive emails to SNP MP". Scottish Legal News.
  16. ↑ "Business of the House - UK Parliament". UKParliament. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  17. ↑ Crichton, Torcuil; Hutcheon, Paul (11 March 2021). "SNP MP poses with young workers on night he's accused of sexually harassing teen". Daily Record.
  18. ↑ Settle, Michael (17 March 2021). "Scots Tories urge Blackford to explain why SNP did not act on sexual harassment complaint against MP". The Herald.
  19. ↑ Boothman, John (16 April 2022). "Sexual harassment complaints against SNP MPs are upheld". The Times.
  20. ↑ Sanderson, Daniel (14 June 2022). "SNP MP Patrick Grady should be suspended for sexual misconduct, report recommends". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  21. ↑ SNP MP Patrick Grady faces Commons suspension for sexual misconduct BBC News
  22. ↑ Sanderson, Daniel (14 June 2022). "SNP MP Patrick Grady should be suspended for sexual misconduct, report recommends". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  23. ↑ "Police drop probe into Patrick Grady harassment allegations". BBC News. 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
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