A Labour MP has vowed to tackle the “Andrew Tate’s of this world who encourage misogyny” as she revealed her own personal family experience of sexual assault.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw, said she discovered her middle-daughter had been a victim of a sex-attack after she was left with no option but to check her daughter’s diary.
White said the ordeal also had a profound effect on her husband, the former Labour MP John Mann.
During an interview with Gloria De Piero to be screened this Sunday, White told GB News: “It was the worst time in my life. She (my middle daughter) was sexually assaulted whilst out with friends. And she came home and didn’t tell me or my husband anything about it.
Jo White recalled the horrific ordeal her middle daughter went through
GB News
“The reason being was because my husband was a member of parliament at the time, and she didn’t want us to have to deal with the repercussions of that. So, she was protecting us. And she didn’t tell us what had happened to her, and went for a year without telling us.”
Explaining how the details of what happened eventually emerged White told how she was contacted by a school nurse who phoned her and said, she needed to talk to her middle daughter.
“The nurse said: ‘There’s something she needs to tell you.’ I thought what is going on? What’s this about? And then she’s rushed to hospital, and I knew I had to talk to her about something, I didn’t know what. I could see that her life was collapsing around her”, she explained.
“I did something a mother shouldn’t do. I went through her bedroom and I found her diary. And that’s how I found out what had happened to her. So, I knew I had to talk to her about what I’d read in the diary, and she confirmed it had happened.
White claimed that the incident was the ‘worst time of her life’
GB News
“I had to ask her permission to talk to my husband about it, and that was really, really hard. And people know my husband, John, he’s very robust. He will say what he thinks. He’s quick to react.
“This is the only time I’ve seen him be silent. And he stood and looked out the window for quite a long time. And our focus then was on how can we best support our daughter?
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“She’s never told me or my husband the names of the two boys who did it. She knows why. I know what my husband would do if he did.”
Describing the impact it had on her middle-daughter she said: “It took her more than ten years to recover. There were times when she was suicidal. I used to have to go and live with her to help get her out of bed in the morning, to go and do her job.
“She had to have a lot of therapy. She had an eating disorder for quite a long time. And the therapy she got in the end actually saw her through it. But I know that she can never live alone. She’s always got to have somebody with her. So, you know, I can never forgive those people.
“Those boys, what they did to her, I can never, ever. And I know what I’d do and what I’d say if I saw them. And I know what my husband would do if he saw them. But they destroyed her life. And I can never forgive that, ever, ever. And the fact that she felt she couldn’t tell me because the position my husband was in makes it even worse.”
Talking about why she’s tackling this topic she said: “This is my opportunity to actually tackle these issues head on. I’m concerned about the Andrew Tate’s of this world who encourage misogyny, particularly in young boys. And yet many young girls accept that language.
Jo White sat down with GB News host Gloria De Piero for an exclusive interview
GB News
“So I want our curriculum to change, so that teachers can talk to this from children from a very young age to up to teenagers, where they feel comfortable about challenging language that belittles women, treats women as sexual… girls as sexual objects. And so that people have the strength to challenge it and change behaviours.
“There’s a big campaign on Ask for Angela. When women go into a pub and they feel particularly challenged, there’s somebody sitting next to them who’s coming on to them and they feel uncomfortable. If you go to the bartenders and Ask for Angela, they can help you or help you get out of that situation. So I want to promote schemes like that so women feel safe where they are. So that for me, will hopefully be my legacy. When I’ve finished being an MP.”
In her GB News interview White also spoke of the horrific rape threats she and her children endured during the period her husband was an MP. She was also sent packages – including dead birds – through the post.
She said: “It was an awful time. I found it a very, very difficult time. So when he stood down, it’s a period of relief, where I healed. And to be honest, going through that has strengthened me as a woman. I feel far more resilient, and I think it’s given me the strength to be a member of Parliament.”
