David Ruffley, the MP for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, will stand down at the 2015 election. Why? Well, it seems he’s finally admitted that it’s not really on for him to continue his work as an MP after accepting a caution for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
The incident happened way back in March, but it was only given light after Frances Ward, the first female dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral – who is friends with the victim – wrote a letter to Ruffley, telling him his position was, in her words, 'untenable'. ‘I cannot let you try to tell me that it was only a “little local incident” or that [my friend] was at fault. I must remind you of the seriousness of the assault and that you were arrested, not her,’ she wrote.
This was then picked up by local press, and that’s when the local Fawcett Society – that’s a feminist group – started its activism. Things heated up after Ruffley’s local association chairman, Andrew Speed, said that he didn’t believe the assault ‘in any way qualifies as domestic abuse.’
In an email to Conservative members, he said: ‘I understand why the opposition and minority feminist groups might try and make the link to DV but surprised others have.’
However, this was picked up on by Jenny Antill, another local Conservative member who is also chairman of the Suffolk Domestic Abuse Partnership. ‘Do you agree that David Ruffley accepted a police caution for common assault on his then partner at his London flat earlier this year? If so, in what way does this not constitute domestic abuse?’ she asked.
Another local councillor, Joanna Spicer, accused the Conservative Party of ‘protecting David Ruffley from the consequences of his police caution’.
This was all reported on by national papers, and Ruffley issued his side of the events through his lawyers, saying he ‘would never condone domestic violence under any circumstances’, despite the fact that, at least in one ‘incident’, he’d done just that.
This wasn’t enough for Jo Costello, the founder of EverydayVictimBlaming.com, who decided to take action by making a petition on Change.org, writing on the webpage: ‘We cannot have perpetrators of violence against women representing us in Parliament. If Ruffley truly understands the impact of domestic violence, then he must resign from Parliament.’
Jo, who had success last year after launching a petition for the DPP to investigate a prosecuting barrister Robert Colover for saying that a 13-year-old rape victim had ‘seduced’ her attacker (he resigned from his post), tells The Debrief that she didn’t expect support for this current petition, which now has 45,000 signatories, to swell so high. ‘We launched it on Friday and the signatures trickled in – on Sunday there were about 2,000. Then, all of a sudden on Sunday luchtime there was a flurry and we had 10,000.’
The story was then bigger than the Conservatives who said that the matter ‘had been dealt with’, that heinous local association chairman who said it wasn't domestic violence, or any of the other old cronies who defended Ruffley. And it was all down to various women – and the local press – being happy to call him out, despite being called ‘hysterical’ by certain factions of the Conservatives.
‘We salute the courage of the women who have kept this on the agenda, especially with local newspapers, that’s been really significant,' Jo tells us. ‘It’s very difficult to come out against a what is a male-dominated environment, there’s a lot to worry about, the threat that you might feel about own role within that organisation. So it’s an act of courage, to say “this isn’t acceptable and we’re going to try to take action to stop it.”’
Even though Ruffley has promised to step down from his post in 2015, explaining in a letter to his colleagues that he is not ‘prepared to continue to sustain the unrelenting orchestrated intrusion into my private life’ (seriously!), Jo isn’t stopping there.
‘It’s not ideal; our aim would have been for him to step down immediately and reflect on his action and address his behaviours. The petition has remained open for him to not take another 10 months of salary and pension contributions.’
If you don’t like the sounds of Ruffley, someone who, the Dean of St Edmundsbury says, hurt his ex so bad she was left ‘wincing in obvious pain’, then check out Jo’s petition here.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.