CAROLINE Lucas has said the sleaze storm engulfing Parliament is “more about power than sex”.

She told The Argus she had been unaware of the dossier which has come to light listing male MPs’ supposed indiscretions but warned it included consensual relationships between those in equal positions of power, with which she had no qualms.

She added: “That’s very different from sexual assault.

“This whole debate is really more about power than is is about sexual urges.

“It’s about the misuse of power.”

She said Westminster “still feels like an old boys’ club” where sexism and misogyny are rife but praised the Prime Minister’s zero tolerance approach.

The Green co-leader said she was “as confident as she could be” that her own party had its house in order but said it was nonetheless “reviewing procedures”.

But she warned that Theresa May’s “reputation is on the line” as further stories emerge about Cabinet misconduct in the wake of the resignation of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Asked whether she had been surprised by the last fortnight’s headlines, Ms Lucas said she had been “disappointed” to learn “things hadn’t changed” since a 2014 Channel 4 expose.

She said: “We live in a society where sexism in endemic and walking around the corridors of this place, that is reinforced.”

She took pains to differentiate boorish behaviour and “everyday sexism” from rape and sexual assault but said all such behaviours existed on a “continuum”, adding: “Assault is very different from a prevailing attitude of sexism and misogyny, it’s very different but it’s connected.”

She said dismissive responses to her 2013 battle against Page 3 had demonstrated to her that many MPs simply did not see the sexualisation of women as a problem.

She called for an independent complaints body with investigatory powers, learning from the one run by the Canadian Parliament.

She said it would take the issue out of the “back room rumour mill” and be better for both survivors and the accused because it would protect the integrity of the process.

Following Mr Fallon’s resignation on Wednesday night, Ms Lucas stressed that while the full details are not yet known and neither is the role played by the Prime Minister, Mrs May’s acceptance of the resignation was “a good sign to demonstrate a zero tolerance approach”.

She added: “Right now she recognises she’s got such a potential crises on her hands, her reputation is on the line.”

Ms Lucas said in her experience the atmosphere in London was worse than in the European Parliament.

She said: “Westminster still feels like an old boys’ club in a way that to me the European Parliament didn’t.

“Here you still feel – and often you are, in meeting after meeting – in a very small minority as a women although thankfully that is starting to change.

“It’s nowhere near so noticeable in Brussels, it just felt different.

“I don’t wish to suggest this isn’t happening because we’re learning it’s happening everywhere but that was my experience.”