Nuala McAllister's comments about misogyny in the Alliance Party 'raise more questions than answers' says Jon Burrows
The leader of the UUP has said that comments by Nuala McAllister about misogyny within the Alliance Party “raise more questions than answers”.
Jon Burrows called for the party to offer up details of this alleged misogyny, such as who said it.
The Alliance Party has not responded to this call at time of writing, nor has it provided details of what was actually said.
All this stems from a report published last week by Jan Melia, former head of the Women's Aid Federation NI, into PSNI failings around the murder of Katie Simpson in 2020, including a delay of several months in identifying the chief suspect, who had previous ABH convictions.
Ms Melia’s investigation had found that, during one Police Ombudsman interview with an officer or officers, this suspect had been described as a “bad boy” and “philanderer”.
This, Ms Melia’s report went on, amounts to “normalising male entitlement and minimising the seriousness of violence against women,” and shows that the police “endorse misogyny”.
Definitions vary, but the Cambridge Dictionary (produced by an arm of the university) describes misogyny as “feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women”.
On the Nolan Show on Friday, Mr Burrows said that he had never personally heard misogynistic language from officers when he was in the police.
Mr Burrows had then asked her if she had ever heard it in the Alliance Party.
She replied: “Of course, because it's reflective of society, and people think it's a joke. And I say that's not okay...”
Miss McAllister was then asked if she had called for the person who made the comments to be removed from the Alliance Party.
"No, because we have the higher standard that we hold, quite a high standard, that we wouldn't let anyone get past us that is quite a misogynistic person,” she replied.
Miss McAllister was pressed by Stephen Nolan, who said: “No, no, one second. You've said that you've heard misogynistic language within the Alliance Party.
"In the same way that you are saying that those people who say it in the PSNI should be removed from the PSNI, why did you not ensure misogynists within the Alliance Party were removed from your party?”
Miss McAllister replied that “we don't have misogynists in the Alliance Party… I have heard people think it's banter, and we have said that's not banter now, it's not acceptable – and to be fair, people have said sorry, because we call it out”.
Now Mr Burrows has told the News Letter: “Nuala’s contribution raises more questions that it answers.”
He wondered “who used the misogynist language, when, [and] how was it dealt with”, adding: "These are legitimate questions, but I do want to make it clear my focus is on supporting victims, not on arguing with political opponents.”
Mr Burrows also said: “Any abusive or degrading treatment of women is unacceptable, full stop, and there is no place for it in our society.
"Those in public life should be held to the highest standards.
"Whether it be politicians or police officers or other public servants we must there is no tolerance for any form of abuse.
"It is regrettable that last week there was political point scoring, instead of us all standing foursquare with victims.”