Labour MP Says Her Colleagues Are "On A Journey" To Support Her Summer Of Sex Campaign
Make Love Not Porn founder Cindy Gallop, Labour MP Samantha Niblett and Coco de Mer CEO Lucy Litwack at the 'Summer of Sex' campaign launch party (Coco de Mer/John Lewis)
7 min read
Labour's Samantha Niblett said she believes some of her MP colleagues are starting to come round to her campaign for lifelong sex education, which sparked fierce debate across Westminster earlier this year.
Three months on from kicking off her campaign for lifelong sex education via an exclusive interview with PoliticsHome, Niblett partnered with major retailer John Lewis and luxury lingerie and sexual wellness brand Coco de Mer to host an event on Wednesday evening to officially launch the ‘Summer of Sex’.
Speaking at the event with Coco de Mer CEO Lucy Litwack and Make Love Not Porn founder Cindy Gallop – who has partnered with Niblett for her campaign – Niblett laid out how the campaign has progressed over the last few months.
“If I get known as Samantha the sex MP, I just start making it easier for other MPs to start to talk about it. Many of them have gone ‘my god, good on you, this is amazing’.”
She said some supportive MPs have told her that some of the “original doubters” have started to see the point of the campaign.
“Some MPs that were critical of the way that I went about it, they don't like the sex toys, they think it's diminishing the campaign.
"But it's not. I grabbed the mic. It did get the attention, and I am absolutely going to do a sex toys event in Parliament because I want it to not be shocking. I want it to not be pearl-clutchy.
“Some colleagues are going on a journey. I honestly believe it: the more that the country gets behind this campaign, the more that Parliament will, because it will be led by what is palatable. We are as basic as that, seriously. People are interested in sex. Everybody wants to talk about sex.”
Coco de Mer CEO Lucy Litwack, Labour MP Samantha Niblett and Make Love Not Porn founder Cindy Gallop at the 'Summer of Sex' campaign launch party (PoliticsHome)
Niblett said she aims to pull together a briefing document by the end of summer recess to send to fellow MPs and promote the purpose of the campaign.
In her interview with PoliticsHome in April, Niblett said she wanted to push for more open, inclusive lifelong sex education by securing a debate in Parliament on the topic in the autumn. Niblett said she wanted to promote wider awareness of consent, prevent abuse and violence, and raise awareness of how childbirth, the menopause, stress and other health conditions can impact sexual satisfaction.
Niblett shared that she watched porn herself like “lots of other people” and that it was a “turn on”. She said she will host an event in Parliament where she brings in sex toys, which has since been confirmed to be allowed by the parliamentary authorities.
The campaign took Westminster by storm, generating discussion in the chamber, in which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of “fiddling while Rome burns”, and heated debate within the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party WhatsApp group, in which other MPs accused Niblett of trivialising a serious topic.
“I certainly found myself posting less in MP WhatsApp chats because there were slightly terse comments that went flying by in the women's PLP chat,” Niblett said.
“So I extricated myself from it, which is horrible because you think you've got comrades, but it didn't feel like that. So that was a bit sad, but it's politics.”
The interview generated many TV interviews and opinion columns, including an LBC interview with Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell in which she said: “I personally don’t own any sex toys, but each to their own”.
Niblett has since become the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for sexual and reproductive health.
The campaign launch event on Wednesday evening was attended by sponsoring brands John Lewis and Coco de Mer, sex education content creators, sexual intimacy coaches, charity campaigners and journalists. It was an exclusive affair, with the vast majority of the around 50 attendees being women.
The 'Summer of Sex' launch party was hosted at the 1864 Rooftop Bar and Garden on the sixth floor of John Lewis in central London (Coco de Mer/John Lewis)
The event was located at the rooftop bar of John Lewis in central London, with servings of canapés and glasses of Aperol spritz, flowery decor and luxury goodie bags for attendees that contained biscuits, canned cocktails and intimate bodycare products.
The ‘Yes sex please, we’re British’ campaign has a broad scope: covering lifelong sex education which Niblett describes as needing buy-in from government, the NHS and education systems, parents, and businesses.
Pressed on what specific demands she hopes to bring to government ministers, Niblett said she is continuing to speak to stakeholders and charities throughout the summer to learn as much as possible, before delivering a speech at the debate she has secured in Parliament, which is set to be held in the autumn.
Talked about what she wants to systemic change and for positive sexual wellness should be “promoted” across the health and education systems.
“I have spoken to doctors and sexologists and people working within the NHS and educators that are just so grateful someone is taking this seriously within Parliament, that's prepared to put their head above the parapet,” Niblett told PoliticsHome.
“We need to be talking about sexual wellness within the NHS, not just sexual health. Talking about the benefits of sex, not just let's fix you when you're broken.”
Niblett spoke of concerns raised by people working in the NHS that support is “patchy” for patients whose health conditions affect their sex lives: “Some doctors are embarrassed to talk about it; there isn’t a standard of sex education in GP training even.”
The MP also wants to start work on determining the economic value benefit of improving lifelong sex education, as a way of getting the Treasury on board by saving money for the NHS.
“How is it preventing other illnesses from happening? How is it making people better?”
Niblett also recently hosted a roundtable with Meta to express her opposition to the banning of accounts that share ‘positive’ sex education content.
Campaign launch event attendees were gifted luxury goodie bags by Coco de Mer, containing sexual wellness products (PoliticsHome)
The MP hopes that the sponsorship from John Lewis for the launch event will help to legitimise the campaign. John Lewis has seen a 22 per cent increase in demand for their sexual wellness products in the last year, which has been growing since the Covid-19 pandemic. John Lewis and Coco de Mer representatives told PoliticsHome at the event that both companies wanted to help take the “stigma” out of sex.
Niblett has already won the support of Emma Thompson, who recorded a video with Niblett last month, saying that the campaign was “not party political, but it was critical”.
The MP has her sights on further celebrity endorsements: She is in conversation with LGBTQ dating app Grindr to get her an introduction to pop star Madonna, and with American media company Condé Nast to connect her with singer Harry Styles, who launched his own sex toy range last year.
“We’re trying to get the nation behind the campaign, because when you do that, MPs will fall in line,” Niblett said.
“If it looks like a vote winner, people don’t want to look like the idiot who looks like the one who’s on the side.”
