Limits on NDAs could ‘go further’, minister says after Walliams allegations

Detailed summary

David Walliams, 55, denies any wrongdoing.

The Government should look to “go further” on restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements, women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson has said, in the wake of allegations made against David Walliams.

Best-selling author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge Walliams was named as part of an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News on Tuesday, after he tried to obtain an injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations against him.

One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams, when she was 15, as a “sexual assault”, while multiple women accused him of “grooming” them when they were teenagers.

Sky became the latest business involved with projects linked to the star to distance themselves from him on Wednesday, saying it would drop plans to distribute a film based on his book Fing in the UK and Ireland in early 2027.

The publication of the allegations has sparked conversation about how injunctions and non-disclosure agreements are used.

Ms Phillipson was asked on Sky News about the possibility of banning NDAs altogether after employment rights legislation tightened restrictions on their use to protect whistleblowers and stop workers being prevented from speaking out about harassment or discrimination.

“I think there is scope to go further on this to make sure that we do not see the legal system basically abused in order to silence women.”

Asked if that included looking at a ban, Ms Phillipson said: “Yes, because we cannot have a system where rich and powerful individuals, rich and powerful men, are able to silence women by their silence and stop things coming to light.”

She was further asked if she thought injunctions were being misused by “rich men”, and said: “Yes, I believe that they are, and you know, men who seek to commit acts of violence against women or seek to behave in a way that is completely inappropriate will use whatever is available at their disposal to do that.”

Opening of the article, excerpted from Evening Standard. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.