It breaks my heart to say it, but Ken Clarke should go

Way back in February, Scottish Tory Justice Spokesman Bill Aitken asked a reporter if a Glasgow rape victim had been a prostitute and made some other really awful victim blaming comments that showed that he really didn't have a clue about the issues surrounding this awful crime.

At that time I said Aitken should resign and I think I was right to. Ultimately, he did resign as Convener of the Holyrood Justice Committee but remained a Tory frontbench spokesman.

If I'm going to be consistent, I have to say that Ken Clarke should resign for the comments he made today, implying that some categories of rape are less serious than others.

Now, I think it's perfectly legitimate to have the debate he's talking about, around allowing more time off for a guilty plea. Go ahead. It's just not on to suggest that one type of rapist is less harmful than another. If a woman has been raped, her trauma will be acute whether the perpetrator was the extremely rare stranger in the dark alleyway, or her husband or boyfriend.

It's such a shame, because I like Ken Clarke. I disagree with him on a lot, but he's a good guy and I admire the way he's dealt with abolishing shorter sentences and the like.  I expect to hear victim blaming rubbish from the likes of Nadine Dorries, but not from our Ken.

I was willing to offer a get out clause to Bill Aitken earlier in the year - that I'd forgive and forget if he had a meeting with Rape Crisis and reconsidered his view in the light of what they had to say to them. I'd do the same for Ken Clarke. Sadly, though, if he's not prepared to do so, then I can't see how he can remain in position. Women need to feel confident that ministers accept that rape is always a horrible crime for which there is never an excuse, and it is never ok to blame the victim.

Can I suggest that everyone reads Jennie's take on this issue. She shows the psychological and physical effects of different scenarios of rape very powerfully.

Why are the Conservatives still putting up Bill Aitken for hustings debates?

It's three weeks since Bill Aitken chose to resign as Convener of Holyrood's Justice Committee in the face of public pressure after making highly inappropriate comments about a series of gang rapes in Glasgow in which he asked if the victim was a prostitute and implied, against the evidence, that "the police say there’s a lot of drunken carry-ons that result in rape allegations which are subsequently dropped, put it that way"


As I said at the time, the Conservatives are usually falling over themselves to support victims of crime - unless that crime is rape, when their first instinct is to question the victim. Is it really any wonder that women find it so hard to report this horrendous crime?


I also said at the time that the manner of his resignation didn't really make me think he'd understood what he'd done wrong - and I'd actually prefer that, to be honest.


As bad as Aitken's conduct was, the fact that Annabel Goldie was prepared to tolerate someone with those views on her front bench team is, to me, far worse. Bill Aitken remains a Tory Justice Spokesperson and in fact is today representing the party in the Scotland on Sunday debate which takes place at 3.30 pm. His presence to me is a powerful message from the Tories that they condone his comments, or at least consider them not worthy of fuss. 


You can watch the debate live here and submit questions via that site or by tweeting @scotlandvotes.

Bill Aitken resigns as Holyrood Justice Convener

Bill Aitken has tonight decided to step down as Holyrood's Justice Convener over comments he made to the Sunday Herald about a series of rapes in Glasgow. I've written at length on this in recent days so I won't go over that ground.

I'm glad he's done the decent thing as I've said he should go all along. However, there's a bit of me that would rather he'd got what he'd done wrong. His resignation statement implies that he doesn't really feel that he's transgressed in any way:

"In politics, you have to have a thick skin. But this issue is no longer about me. For far too many people, perception is reality. 

Today I am standing down as convener of the Justice committee. 

"I do so with a mixture of emotions. Frustration at allowing myself to be misrepresented. Anger at being misrepresented. And remorse to rape victims and their loved ones for any hurt they feel."

The New Statesman last week published what they say is a leaked excerpt of the comments, and I'm not sure that gives Bill Aitken anywhere to hide.

Anyway, he's gone now. Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown had this to say on his departure:

It’s highly unfortunate that Bill Aitken’s distinguished political career should end in this way as a result of badly chosen and ill-advised comments.

“He has been an excellent convener of the Justice Committee.  However it is important that no rape victim feels in any way that their rights would not be fully and totally upheld and defended by the Parliament and Parliamentarians.” 

Although I don't think I've ever agreed with Bill Aitken, I do understand what Robert has said about him being a good parliamentary performer up until now. It's a shame that he'll be remembered for these comments more than the 12 preceding years. 

The pressure mounts on Bill Aitken

This time last week I was a bit worried that I seemed to be the only voice in the Scottish blogosphere writing about Bill Aitken's appalling comments about a series of horrific rapes in Glasgow. Thankfully that's not the case as Jeff at Better Nation, the Burd,  Bella Caledonia and Lallands Peat Worrier have also called for him to go. There is even a Facebook group calling for his resignation.

Aitken's comments were truly repulsive and certainly not appropriate for the convener of a respected parliamentary Justice Committee. The only person responsible for rape is the rapist, and comments from a senior politician blaming the victim could act as an even greater deterrent to women to report this crime.

I am perplexed as to why the media haven't been more vocal about it, though. Aitken's comments were in my view even worse than those made by Richard Keys and Andy Gray on Sky Sports and we all remember the furore about that - although that may have been more about getting one over on Murdoch than any concern for the issue.

A stooshie on the internet is one thing, but I'm pleased to note that Green MSP Patrick Harvie has actually taken action within the Parliament by tabling a motion calling on Bill Aitken to resign. I am assuming that this is one of these EDM-like motions which won't actually be debated but which MSPs sign up to. I'm hoping that this will attract enough cross party support for him to realise that he doesn't command the support of the Parliament and to go quickly. I am shocked that Annabel Goldie is allowing him to stay in position. She presumably has given him a telling off and she certainly said all the right things, but it does her no good to keep him in office.

I said last week that I might be prepared to forgive and forget if he really made a genuine effort to understand the issues. Last week was the time for him to do that. It's too late now.

The text of Patrick Harvie's motion is as follows:

Unacceptable comments by the Convenor of Justice Committee - That the Parliament condemns the attitude shown by Bill Aitken MSP on the subject of rape during a recent interview with the Sunday Herald newspaper; considers that Mr Aitken’s comments during this interview betray a disregard for the seriousness of rape, and imply support for the view that a victim can be held responsible for this most vicious crime; believes that this view, though disturbingly widespread, is rooted in misogyny and ignorance; considers these comments to be incompatible with the role of Justice Committee Convenor; believes that the Parliament’s credibility to deal proactively with issues of sexual violence would be undermined if the proximity of dissolution resulted in failure to hold Mr Aitken to account for these odious and shocking comments; and calls for Mr Aitken’s immediate resignation.

Can I suggest that everyone brings this to their MSPs' attention and asks them to support it in whatever way they can?

Tory spokesman Bill Aitken should resign for implying rape victim was prostitute

The Tories are usually very supportive of victims of crime.

Ask David Cameron who, last year, said that a burglar doesn't deserve to have any human rights after he's entered your house.

Unfortunately, their sympathy for victims doesn't seem to extend to the crime of rape. Shadow Tory minister for Community Safety in the Scottish Parliament Bill Aitken has apparently asked the Sunday Herald whether a victim of an horrendous rape in Glasgow earlier this week was a prostitute. This woman was dragged down a lane by 3 men and raped. This was the latest in a series of similar assaults in Glasgow.

Let's be clear, here. If the woman had been a prostitute, there would never be any justification to force her to have sex against her will.  To even ask the question shows a mindset that is very worrying in anyone who's supposed to be representing justice. I certainly would not feel happy with him as a minister in the justice department if he can make that sort of assumption.

His comments also seem to suggest that if a woman is in a certain place at a certain time, then she has to have some culpability for any attack on her. He said:

“If this woman was dragged halfway through the town then it just couldn’t possibly happen. So has nobody asked her what she was doing in Renfrew Lane? 

“Somebody should be asking her what she was doing in Renfrew Lane. Did she go there with somebody? ... Now, Renfrew Lane is known as a place where things happen, put it that way.” 

Asked to clarify, he said: “It’s an area where a lot of the hookers take their clients. Now that may not have happened in this case. But you know ... what was happening? There’s always a lot more to these city-centre rapes than meets the eye.”

And asked whether there was a difference between rape of women who work as prostitutes and those who don't:

Well, the prostitute has possibly put herself in a position of some vulnerability.”

Equally worrying was his willingness to believe that drunk women habitually make up allegations of rape:

“The police say there’s a lot of drunken carry-ons that result in rape allegations which are subsequently dropped, put it that way,”

 There is not a shred of evidence to back that up.

Bill Aitken only has another month or so to go as an MSP as he's standing down at the election. Even so, it would be appropriate, I think, for him to resign if he is not willing to seriously re-think his comments. I might be inclined to forgive and forget if he were to agree to have a meeting with Rape Crisis Scotland, for example, and listen to what they have to say.  He might also want to have a look at two websites, This is not an invitation to rape me, and Not Ever which are there to tackle some of the myths and wrong attitudes around rape.

I don't think the rather half hearted apology he issued when he was confronted with the Sunday Herald transcript is enough. If he can't show that he's changed his attitude, Annabel Goldie should not allow him to hold a position relating to justice, or any senior position in her parliamentary party.