Labour has written to the prime minister calling the Conservative candidate in Darlington “unfit for office” after it emerged he had said a woman’s “promiscuity” was relevant in alleged rape cases.
Theresa May has defended Peter Cuthbertson after the Guardian unearthed a series of controversial blogposts, including one where he praised a “courageous priest jailed in Sweden for preaching against homosexuality” and argued against restrictions on bringing up a woman’s sexual history in court.
“Of course, it is relevant how promiscuous a woman is in determining how likely it was she consented,” he wrote in 2002.
In his letter to the prime minister calling for Cuthbertson to be replaced, the shadow cabinet minister Jon Trickett called Cuthbertson’s views “deplorable” and said they “clearly deem him unfit to run for public office”.
He added: “Today, during your campaign visit to Teesside, you were challenged on these remarks and given the opportunity to condemn them. However, you failed to do so, sadly demonstrating the weakness that has characterised the Conservative party’s election campaign to date.”
Trickett pointed to a speech given by May in 2005, where she said those with intolerant views would not be welcome in the Conservative party.
“I am now demanding that you follow up on your promise and deliver your message that such views have no place in politics and no place in today’s society,” he said.
“These are serious accusations which require action. It is not acceptable for the Conservative party to continue to ignore them. The constituents of Darlington deserve better; they deserve the opportunity to select a candidate of integrity.”
The Conservative Commentary blogposts were written when Cuthbertson was a university student. The 33-year-old public affairs consultant is hoping to overturn a 3,158 majority held by Labour’s Jenny Chapman.
Asked to defend the post, Cuthbertson pointed to his youth at the time and said he “definitely does not have all the same views as my adolescent self”.
In the blogs, he also argued that a “woman of low morals is more likely to consent to sex, and to lie” and concluded that “all the sympathy in the world should be extended to women who have been raped, but men who are falsely accused of this crime are equally the victims here”.
In another, he said sexual diseases were on the rise because girls “mate like animals … they conform to the most base instincts for instant gratification, whatever the morality of their actions and whatever the consequences”.
Trickett said Conservative Campaign Headquarters should commit to “a full investigation into this matter and ensure that processes are put in place to ensure that such situations cannot continue to occur when selecting prospective parliamentary candidates”.
