Thread by @EmmaWalkerCEO

🧵Welcome to the 800 new followers who have joined us this week! 🧵

I’m Emma. After joining Scottish Liberal Democrats I became heavily involved as a volunteer. I did incredibly well. They fast tracked through me the approval process so that I could run in elections 1/24

They put me in every voluntary role you could imagine. I was trusted with private party information. Alex Cole Hamilton MSP enjoyed telling people that I was his “best find”. My lifelong dream of running for Parliament was within reach. That is until the Euros in 2019. 2/24

After winning an MEP seat for Sheila Ritchie, Willie Rennie MP headhunted me into the role of her Chief of Staff. I didn’t want to take it. I deeply regretted it from day one. I ran her office in Brussels and Edinburgh, based in Scottish Lib Dem HQ. 3/24

I saw firsthand the toxic culture. I reported racism and bullying to Willie Rennie who told me that nothing could be done. I was bullied by a man who was worried that I would beat him in selection. I was trapped in a kitchen by Alex Cole Hamilton MSP and made to listen… 4/24

as he sacked a woman who had uncovered a laptop that was hidden because of its involvement in the Alasdair Carmichael MP’s trial in 2015. Staff were suicidal and nobody would help me. Christine Jardine MP was bullying people. People were bullying Christine. It was hell. 5/24

People started coming to me to report all kinds of wrongdoing - often sexual misconduct, abuse, bullying and racism. Senior leadership were complicit in cover-ups. I was being told to persevere because I could do “more good in Parliament than out with.” 6/24

I was in deep trauma because of everything that was happening around me. Families of staffers would sob to me as they were worried that their child or partner would complete suicide. Alex Cole Hamilton would come to me to vent about Christine. As would Wendy Chamberlain. 7/24

The Man kept bullying me. He told the men who I worked with that he had “an Emma Walker sized problem he’d need to deal with”. Alex and Willie warned him off me. So he assaulted me on election night, when he found me on my own and in tears and at my most vulnerable. 8/24

I was told by Willie Rennie et al not to report it as this would lead to The Man winning selection. Apparently local parties in the Lib Dems are filled with old men who don’t like it when women talk about being abused by one of their pals. The bullying of my team continued. 9/24

And those who tried to stick up for me were punished, bullied and driven to suicide attempts. I was feeling very vulnerable. I’d lost three stone in about 6 weeks and I couldn’t process all of the suicidal intentions that I was having to deal with on my own. 10/24

I resigned as Mental Health spokesperson after another friend and colleague attempted suicide. I reached out for help. This was so difficult. 2023 Emma is so proud of 2020 Emma. I reached out for help with my own suicidal intentions twice. Twice they bullied me some more. 11/24

I continued to help others in Edinburgh and London with NDAs and tried to protect them from bullies. I wrote so many words to the party begging them to listen, to change, to let me fix it. They responded by lying about me, burying their legal fees from their own Exec.. 12/24

I got out. Those first 12 tweets don’t even cover half of it. The police mark on my home when another man emailed me his plans for my clitoris, the young woman who was shoved up against a wall and throttled, the hand in my face from the MEP/Convenor, the coup against an MP 13/24

I was the most loyal member of staff. I lost 5 stone in 3 months. I refused to go to press for so long. Then The Scotsman approached me and convinced me to work with them. For six months I went over my trauma, I reached out to an FBI whistleblower for help with my courage, 14/24

I shared dark moments with those closest to me for the first time. On eve of publication, after a lengthy heated conversation with Scot Lib Dems, the article was pulled. Apparently it was a non-story. You - the public - don’t care about my mental health resignation letter. 15/24

You don’t care about Alex Cole Hamilton leaking Salmond’s complainants texts to me at midnight on day Salmond have evidence, months after we’d last been in touch. Do you? 🧐They pulled the story and I was devastated. Re-triggered. Scared. Defeated. 16/24

But nope, never beaten. I continued to lodge complaints. When every one of those have been mishandled, I’ve lodged complaints about those complaints. Did you know that women can never win? I’m turning that on it’s head. I’m not winning in full public view. Fuck them. 17/24

I was very scared, just 12 months ago. It felt the world was trying to stop me from telling this story. Then I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. I had to stop whistleblowing while I endured the most aggressive chemotherapy. I had time to reflect, read, learn, 18/24

and realised that the world isn’t against me. Some men in powerful places - be it lawyers, journalists or politicians - are against me. Some Lib Dem members are against me. The treatment from my former pals in the party has made me ill at times. 19/24

But I hazarded a guess that the world at large will believe me, will want to hear me, will understand. Because my unheard workplace complaint is one of hundreds of thousands each year that women have to deal with, mostly on their own. Most of us walk away. 20/24

I’m now through treatment. I had 17 weeks of chemo, a double mastectomy, there’s another op this autumn. My cancer is a less common one. I worry it will come back. I have to make this time - be it short or long - count. We all do. That was always my motivation to run. 21/24

So here I am. I want to show women that you can complain until you’re heard. You can show your anger, your fear, your hurt. You can use dark humour, sarcasm. You can walk away when it’s tough. You can come back and stand in front of your bullies and demand to be heard. 22/24

I say this with the privilege that comes with being a white, cis-het woman in her 40’s. Any younger and my career would be impacted or I may not be believed. I’m told by older pals that any older and I’d be invisible. So as we enter Week 2 of She Has Gone Too Far: 23/24

I’m asking Alex Cole Hamilton MSP a simple question:

When was the independent investigation into my complaints? You told Holyrood Magazine there has been one. I think I missed it.

I ask you to #AskAlex too.

Have a beautiful week 💥

24/24

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