Laws criminalizing sexual harassment in public will be blocked by top government officials, an independent adviser warned today.
Home Office plans could turn wolf whistling into a criminal offense last year and pass new specific laws for the most serious street harassment.
But the plan was only mentioned for six months – after Boris Johnson complained that new crime was becoming a “growing” problem for police.
Now Nimko Ali, a Home Office adviser on violence against women and girls and a close friend of the prime minister’s wife, Carrie, has warned there is a “reaction” to the idea.
Asked if Johnson’s advisers were responsible, he told the BBC’s Nick Robinson: “I think it’s much closer than that” and “You can learn from my silence, you know, you do it.” I want to reveal “.
He later denied directly blaming Boris Johnson, but told a podcast: “There is often a very masculine conversation about government and how governments and institutions work.
“So we have to be able to deal with it.”
Nimko Ali (right) with Boris Johnson at an event in Westminster
Last July, Home Secretary Preity Patel said she would examine the “gaps in the existing law” to see if more could be done to ensure women were “confident that their concerns were being taken seriously”.
Official sources have not ruled out extending the new law to include wolf flutes and flutes, although no decision has yet been made.
But Boris Johnson appeared to thwart the plans in October when he said: “I think people should be brought to justice for the crimes in our constitution.
“It simply came to our notice then. Honestly, if you increase the scope of what you tell the police, the problem will get worse. ”
Reports later claimed that Home Secretary Preity Patel was angry at the move.
A source told the Observer at the time: “Make no mistake, Boris Johnson is the man who got it stuck. He seems to be stuck in the past on this issue.”
Another emphasized that the powers that be were beyond the reach of wolves and whistles.
Mrs. Ali shared political thinking with Nick Robinson that “many people” have come to different conclusions than the Home Secretary.
“I would particularly like it if sexual harassment of the public becomes a crime,” he said, “other things [where there are] pushbacks,” he said, before clarifying that the pushback came from “other people.”
Mr Robinson asked: “When you say, ‘A lot of people, wait, you’re an adviser to the government, you have the support of the Home Secretary, I’m trying to understand why this isn’t happening.’
Is it because the people at the top of the government, the people at number 10, are advising the Prime Minister and saying, ‘I’m not sure if I were you I would have this argument?’
He replied, “Well, I’ll still argue. So the whole thing, I think that’s my key to being an independent consultant.
“I think we are actually breaking up society and we are allowing young women to face living experiences that will greatly harm their health in their daily lives.”
Mr Robinson continued: “However, what I want to achieve is the kind of political advisers, is it the people who are trying to win the election on behalf of the Tory party, who do not have that argument, it is not a row, you want, whoever gets the vote. No?
Mrs. Ali replied: “I think it’s much closer than that.
“Of course I’m reasonably comfortable avoiding the question, so you know it’s right now, so you can take it from my silence, you know how you want to keep it.
“But I can say that the Home Secretary and other people in the Home Office are behind it.”
Following the release of the detailed podcast, Mrs. Ali told Mr. Robinson on Twitter: “I did not blame her for this.
“Honestly, I’m talking about dying from FGM and want a better world for girls and that’s what you do.”
The strategy came after a public consultation last July that witnessed 180,000 people, the vast majority in the two weeks following the assassination of Sarah Evarard.
It promises to test whether road design features can help improve personal safety among the public, while it will test an online tool called StreetSafe, which allows public members to highlight anonymously where they feel particularly at risk.
And it included measures including a public campaign “Focus on Behavior Change” that the government hopes will address abuse in society, as well as pledges to ensure the police know how to respond effectively to complaints.
At the time, Mrs. Patel said: “Wherever women and girls are in the country, their safety is my top priority.
“It is unacceptable that women and girls are still victims of harassment, abuse and violence and I do not accept that violence against women and girls is inevitable.”