Content note: mention of rape and sexual harassment

Labour MP Stella Creasy has revealed that she was threatened with gang rape during a two-year campaign of sexual harassment while she was studying at Cambridge.

In an interview with GB News, the MP for Walthamstow said that she remains “terrified” of seeing the men who allegedly abused her.

The harassment started during her first year at Magdalene College, where she studied Social and Political Sciences, and lasted from 1996 to 1998. She said that it included public humiliation and a series of abusive posters when she ran for the role in the college’s student council.

She told GB News: “I’ll never forget the night that I was in a room with them all and they threatened to gang-rape me, let alone the posters that they put up around the college when I had the temerity to stand for a position in the student union, telling people not to vote for me because of who I’d slept with”.

When she reported the harassment to her college, she was accused of trying to cause trouble and “admonished” by college authorities.

“I’m in my mid-40s now and it’s the first time I’ve really felt even willing to talk about it”.

As multiple politicians have shared their experiences in the wake of allegations around misconduct in parliament, Creasy pointed to the culture of “privilege and entitlement” that exists in Westminster. She warned that sexual harassment remains a major issue in universities.

In a statement, the University said that it was “extremely sorry” to hear of Creasy’s “horrific ordeal”, and that significant action had been taken in recent years to improve support for victims of sexual harassment. They urged “anyone who experiences any form of harassment or abuse to report it so that they can be offered support and action can be taken”.