(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A Labour party staff member in London has died suddenly amid an investigation into pornographic images found on a computer.
The staff member, who was in his 30s and worked in the party's London headquarters in Victoria, had been suspended from his job and the party while an investigation was carried out, according to the Sunday Times.
Staff were informed of his death on Thursday by Labour's general secretary, Iain McNicol, but had been told the matter had to be kept private. The inquiry into the staff member is understood to have been in its early stages and there had been no finding of guilt.
A Labour spokesperson confirmed the death on Saturday night but said the party would not be commenting on the circumstances of his death.
'A member of Labour party staff has died suddenly and unexpectedly. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family, friends and colleagues, whose privacy must be respected, the spokesperson said. 'We will not be commenting further at this time.
The man's death comes within a fortnight of the death of Carl Sergeant, a Labour member of the Welsh assembly. Sergeant died in an apparent suicide after being suspended as a Cabinet secretary for communities and children by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, over claims of sexual harassment.
After his death, close friends of Sergeant criticised how the claims of sexual misconduct were handled by the party. There is no suggestion, however, of similar complaints about the treatment of the party staff member.
Amid the slew of sexual misconduct allegations in Westminster that emerged in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Labour appointed a QC from the chambers set up by Cherie Blair to investigate the party's handling of rape allegations made by former official Bex Bailey.
Karon Monaghan will carry out the independent inquiry after Bailey said she had been raped in 2011. She has since said she was told by a senior person that pursuing the complaint would damage her career.
Monaghan will report on the handling of allegations by Bailey, a former member of the national executive committee, as well as the procedures for dealing with complaints and how those procedures could be improved.
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