Labour MP Natalie Fleet: 'The UK has its own Jeffrey Epstein'

Read time: 5 mins

In brief…

• Natalie Fleet tells Lewis Goodall why she considers Mohammed Al-Fayed the UK’s own Jeffrey Epstein, and why concern for the safety of women and girls has become a political tool for some politicians.
• The Labour MP criticises Kemi Badenoch’s recent interest in the subject, despite having served as a minister for women under the last Tory government, saying the opposition leader is using the subject to “throw rocks” at lifelong campaigners on the Labour benches.
• She says she believes in Keir Starmer on the matter, despite recent controversies including Peter Mandelson’s 2025 appointment, but says women in Labour want to “hold him to account” on his failings and future actions.

What’s the story?

Natalie Fleet, Labour MP for Bolsover in Derbyshire and a grooming survivor, says Mohammed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods, is the UK's version of Jeffrey Epstein.

Allegations against Al-Fayed, who died in 2023, first emerged in the mid-nineties, with numerous women employed in the London store claiming to have been sexually assaulted, as well as subjected to gynaecological tests by doctors working for the businessman.

Fleet has met with survivors of Al-Fayed's abuse, and says they were promised to be "fast-tracked" inside his company, before being subjected to the examinations, abuse and rape.

"These girls had their first job, or the start of their career at Harrods," Fleet tells Lewis Goodall.

"They were given medical examinations, which checked if they were virgins or didn't have STIs, and told they were going to be promoted, they were going to be sent up to the chairman's office."

When they got there, she adds, there was "no work to do".

She speaks of women being trafficked, and forced abortion by doctors if a victim became pregnant.

"The state was involved in a lot of this."

While the testimonies of Al-Fayed's abuse is public knowledge, she says there is no “moral outrage” at what happened.

"It's the same with grooming gangs. It's the same with Epstein," Fleet says.

"People know, and then when it suits them, they're outraged."

'Kemi Badenoch is no ally to women'

This newfound outrage, she adds, is the case when it comes to Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party.

In recent weeks, Badenoch has grilled Keir Starmer in the House of Commons over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US in 2025, despite his close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Full details of that relationship have only emerged recently, but their connection was public knowledge when he took up the overseas role last year.

Badenoch has also attacked Labour for its inaction on tackling the grooming gangs scandal in the UK, claiming "survivors deserve better than this drift and denial."

Fleet says these calls are hollow, considering Badenoch's place in the previous Conservative government, which did nothing to investigate the scandal, or support the victims.

"Kemi Badenoch is a woman who had power and she didn't use it to support victims," Fleet says.

"She was a Minister for Women and Equalities. There's a lot she could have done. She didn't care about grooming. She didn't meet with victims, and she didn't mention grooming once.

“Now she's in opposition, she's the leader of the Tories, and she is using those victims as a human shield to throw rocks at people that have spent their entire lives fighting for these women, like Jess Phillips and Keir Starmer."

Badenoch, and others who have only recently begun calling for justice, Fleet adds, only care now because it feels "politically right".

"You are not on the right side of history just because you have a vagina," she says.

"There are women that are complicit in this.

"There are women that said I cannot be an MP with four kids. They didn't mean it. They were trying to look after me. But as women, we're not immune to being part of the problem."

Labour's own problems protecting women and girls

Fleet is part of a government which is currently facing its own crisis in regards to safeguarding women and girls – following resignations over Mandelson's appointment, and links between Starmer's director of communications and a man charged with possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

Fleet spoke to The News Agents after a "horrible" week she says was her worst in politics since her election in 2024, with Starmer surviving calls for his resignation over his handling of these situations.

"I spend so much time asking women to speak out and supporting them in any way that I can, but that doesn't mean it doesn't come at huge personal cost," she says.

"I feel exhausted. I am glad that it is going to be recess, I can go spend some time with my children and be normal."

She believes Starmer is sorry for what has happened, and understands the “structural misogyny” which led to it.

"I know that he cares. He asked to meet me one-to-one when we got a law change through to stop rapists having access to the children conceived by a rape," Fleet says.

"He held my hand so tight, and he said, 'I am proud of you, and I hope you are proud of you too'.

"I saw a man that genuinely cares and is such a huge ally, and I think that we've got to utilise him."

She says there is an "army" of women inside Labour who want Starmer to succeed, but who also want to hold him to account.

"Starmer is telling us that he is the man who can absolutely tackle these issues," she adds.

"We are going to help him every step of the way, but we're also going to hold him to account.

"The vetting process is not fit for purpose. I'm glad that we're doing something about that."

'I want to make sure victims don't feel ignored'

Since becoming an MP in 2024, Fleet has spoken openly about her own experiences of being groomed, and becoming pregnant, at the age of 15, as well as her hopes to use her time in Parliament to make lives better for women and girls at risk of similar abuse.

"I have been the victim who emails people and organisations, who tries to speak out and tries to get support, and I've felt ignored," she says.

"I felt like I don't have a voice and I don't have a platform, that nobody's interested in girls that society just used to say were slags.

"I found it really tough, and so now I can meet with victims and make sure that they don't feel ignored."

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.