A Labour MP criticised under-fire Masterchef host Greg Wallace after he claimed that accusations levelled against him came from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
Labour MP in thinly veiled swipe at presenter Gregg Wallace
A female Labour MP took aim at Greg Wallace in a thinly veiled swipe at his comment that women of a “certain age” had complained about him.
In a fiery PMQs session, Labour MP Alison Hume said a significant number of women – respective of class – are “of a certain age” – in a thinly veiled swipe at under-fire MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace. It comes after under-fire Masterchef presenter, Mr Wallace, 60, took to social media on Sunday to challenge the accusations levelled at him, claiming they came from “middle-class women of a certain age”. He has since apologised.
In a question to Keir Starmer in the Commons, Ms Hume said: “Given that a significant number of women in this place are, regardless of class, women of a certain age, would the PM agree with me that when a women of a certain age or indeed any women of any age, from any background says they have experienced sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour, they should be listened to, supported and the perpetrator dealt with?”
The Prime Minister responded: “I certainly agree with that and I think everybody across the House would. She’s right because one of the greatest barriers women face when coming forward and reporting unacceptable behaviour in the workplace is having confidence they are taken seriously.
“And that requires all of us to put in place mechanisms and arrangements to make that possible. Everybody should be treated with dignity and respect and I’m proud of the fact the Employment Rights’ bill that we’re passing will strengthen protections from sexual harassment at work.”
Mr Wallace has been accused of making inappropriate sexual remarks and jokes by more than a dozen people over a 17 year period. He strongly denied the allegations in a statement issued via his legal representatives. And now he is said to be “furious” with MasterChef co-host John Torode for not speaking out in his defence – and even took to Instagram to unfollow both John and his wife Lisa Faulkner.
In a post on Instagram on Sunday, Mr Wallace said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think, in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right. In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine?”
His comments were met with a huge backlash, including from the PM’s spokesman who branded them “completely inappropriate and misogynistic.” Following the criticism, Mr Wallace rowed back on his comments and said sorry.
“I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people,” he said. “I wasn’t in a good head space when I posted it, I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege yesterday when I posted it. It’s obvious to me I need to take some time out now while this investigation is under way. I hope you understand and I do hope you accept this apology.”
The Masterchef presenter has stepped away from the BBC cooking show while the misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by producer Banijay UK. On Tuesday the BBC cancelled two MasterChef celebrity specials from its Christmas schedule.