NDAs, the Power to Silence and Dominic Raab
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dominic Raab is facing renewed allegations of bullying behaviour. In this episode we turn the clock back to the time he took out a 'confidentiality agreement' -which lawyers tell us is EXACTLY the same as an NDA; a non-disclosure agreement.
In 2011 he refused to release the woman who signed it from being able to tell her side of the story. We hear from Mark Stephens, a solicitor, who shows us how NDAs are being used and abused in the corridors of power. And from Zelda Perkins - former personal assistant to Harvey Weinstein - who was herself silenced by an NDA for 23 years and is now campaigning to change the law to stop NDAs being used to cover up abusive or criminal behaviour.
Her campaign is Can't Buy My Silence. You can find them here: https://www.cantbuymysilence.com/
Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi
Socials: Georgia Foxwell
Video: Will Gibson-Smith
Production: Gabriel Radus
Deputy Editor: Tom Hughes
Executive Producer: Dino Sofos
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.1 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:13.0 | The Justice Secretary, Dominic Rab, is facing fresh allegations about his behaviour. |
| 0:18.3 | It seems that a permanent secretary in a government department |
| 0:22.3 | had to call staff in to apologise for his behaviour. There's talk too that in Downing Street |
| 0:29.1 | they are going to extend the inquiry into the bullying allegations against him. |
| 0:34.6 | Last week, you might have heard the Labour MP B Bambos Charalambos, in the Commons, asking Dominic |
| 0:42.5 | Raab about his NDA non-disclosure agreement. |
| 0:46.7 | Can the Deputy Prime Minister tell this House if he has ever entered into a non-disclosure |
| 0:51.3 | agreement connected to a complaint against him? |
| 0:57.5 | He's referring to an employment dispute that was settled in before I entered the House. |
| 1:04.6 | It wasn't an NDA, but it did involve a confidentiality clause, which was standard at the time. |
| 1:10.3 | Standard at the time. Standard at the time. |
| 1:12.3 | So is there a difference between an NDA, with a silencing gag, and a confidentiality agreement? |
| 1:20.8 | We asked the leading media lawyer Mark Stevens. |
| 1:24.2 | No, it's a specious argument, and it's one that is used by people who don't want |
| 1:29.1 | to think the name of NDA. So today we're going to be looking at Dominic Raab, those allegations |
| 1:35.6 | of bullying and asking questions about NDAs and how they work and what happens when they |
| 1:42.5 | use to cover up abusive behaviour. |
| 1:45.4 | We'll also be hearing from a woman who worked for Harvey Weinstein, her name's Zelda Perkins, |
| 1:51.1 | and she was forced into silence under an NDA for 23 years. |
| 1:56.1 | Welcome to the Newsagents. |
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