Safeguarding minister quits due to 'overwhelmingly triggering' workload that reignited her grooming trauma
By MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR and PATRICK HARRINGTON, UK NEWS REPORTER
Published: 18:34 EDT, 22 July 2026 \| Updated: 04:38 EDT, 23 July 2026
The minister responsible for tackling violence against women and girls has resigned, saying the role reawakened memories of her traumatic past.
Natalie Fleet has previously spoken about becoming pregnant at 15 after being groomed and raped by an older man.
The MP was appointed safeguarding minister in May after Jess Phillips quit in protest at Sir Keir Starmer's inaction on keeping children safe online.
But on Wednesday Ms Fleet, 42, announced on social media she had resigned her post.
She wrote: 'Honour of lifetime to be Minister for Safeguarding. Quickly found contents overwhelmingly triggering. Did bravest thing I've ever done and told PM's team I sadly couldn't stay.'
Ms Fleet added: 'Victims deserve someone at their best. I wish my successor well and will do all I can to support them.'
Fellow MPs praised her for her bravery.
In an interview with GB News soon after being elected, she described feeling 'full of shame and guilt and responsibility' at the time of the grooming.
Natalie Fleet MP has resigned as Safeguarding Minister after finding the work too triggering of her past trauma
'That was an older man. That was potentially, I mean now we have labels like grooming that we didn't have then,' she said.
'I didn't know we were having unprotected sex. I was a child and this is statutory rape.
You know, at the time this isn't something that we were talking about. It's not how I saw myself.'
When she came to tell her daughter about what happened, Ms Fleet said she had been shocked that she was unable to find any advice for women in her situation.
She said: 'There was nothing. There's no acknowledgement that it happens in the UK.
'And the more research I've done, I've found that there are over 3,000 conceptions every year from rape, but there's no charity to support these women.'
Ms Fleet sparked controversy recently for attacking Reform UK's response to the death of its immigration and justice spokesperson Ann Widdecombe.
She posted online just days after the shocking killing: 'Nigel Farage and his gang of binmen get the same security as the rest of us. Sick of the faux outrage.'
After a backlash, Ms Fleet said: 'Apologies for offence caused by my earlier tweet, which I've now deleted.'