Labour MP and grooming victim says she quit as safeguarding minister over dealing with similar UK cases to Gisèle Pelicot's ordeal - and reveals she was also raped in her sleep

Labour MP and grooming victim Natalie Fleet said she resigned as safeguarding minister because the role required her to discuss cases like Gisele Pelicot's.The Bolsover MP left her government role earlier this week, saying she found the role 'overwhelmingly triggering' due to her past.Ms Fleet has previously spoken about her experience of being groomed at the age of 15 by an older man, who raped her, which resulted in her becoming pregnant.In an interview with The Times, the politician, who was appointed to her Home Office role in May, revealed she had been raped while she slept in a more recent assault.Ms Fleet told the publication she had done the 'bravest thing' in telling Andy Burnham she was stepping down.'The straw that broke the camel's back for me was that the National Crime Agency was doing media about women who'd been drugged and raped while they slept — cases like Gisele Pelicot's,' she said.'I've never said this before — I've only spoken about the statutory rape and grooming. And I don't want to go into detail, but I know what it's like to wake up in a daze, and you don't quite know where you are or what day it is, but there's a man inside you.'Ms Pelicot's ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious, in abuse that lasted nearly a decade.Natalie Fleet Natalie Fleet said she resigned as safeguarding minister because the role required her to discuss cases like Gisele Pelicot'sDetailing how the role caused bad memories to re-emerge, Ms Fleet explained how she would be scheduled to meet with charities and organisations such as Women's Aid and Rape Crisis.And while civil servants would discuss data sets, she would see the human behind them that she knew had been impacted, the MP explained.'When you're carrying this much (trauma), you avoid things that make you feel uncomfortable. I was asked if I wanted to learn more about this amazing charity that gives women fleeing domestic abuse furniture, and I'd used one of those charities.'The Labour MP told of her devastation at not being able to continue with her role due to the huge toll it was having on her. However, her resignation was a bid to take 'back control' from her perpetrators.Divulging that she felt as though she was letting survivors down while in post, she explained that stepping back was the 'bravest' decision she has had to make, insisting she was not 'mad' or 'broken' but simply putting her 'own life jacket on first'.Highlighting those who helped her, Ms Fleet shared that fellow MP Shabana Mahmood made sure she sought counselling with a trauma specialist amid the pressures.Meanwhile, her family have also supported her by taking their caravan to a local beauty spot so she could recover. Sadly, Ms Fleet revealed she could not stop crying and barely lasted an hour.The Bolsover MP also spoke of all she achieved during her short time in the role, which included organising a meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and the survivors of Mohammed Al Fayed, the late Harrods owner.Fleet is proud of her achievements in this short stint, including getting Sir Keir Starmer to meet survivors of abuse by the former Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed.It comes as Ms Fleet announced on social media that she would be resigning from her post earlier this week.'Honour of a lifetime to be Minister for Safeguarding. Quickly found contents overwhelmingly triggering. Did the bravest thing I've ever done and told PM's team I sadly couldn't stay,' she wrote.'Victims deserve someone at their best. I wish my successor well and will do all I can to support them.'She was praised by fellow politicians for her bravery following her resignation.In an interview with GB News soon after being elected, she described feeling 'full of shame and guilt and responsibility' at the time she was groomed.'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.'Now, the Labour MP is set to return to the back benches however, more senior women within the party have voiced their irritation with Andy Burnham for not offering her another ministerial role.A party grandee described her as 'one of the best communicators in the 2024 intake', adding that it was not right for an individual to have to leave due to trauma. 'They just need a different job,' they added.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.'