Two Beefeaters sacked for bullying first female colleague – from Argyll

Two Yeomen of the Guard – or Beefeaters – have been sacked from their posts at the Tower of London after evidence supported accusations of their having bullied 44 year-old Moira Cameron from Furnace in Mid Argyll – who, in 2007, became the first ever woman Beefeater.

A third Yeoman, also suspended during the investigation into the matter by the Tower of London authorities, is to return to work shortly, with the case against him unproven.

Moira Cameron is the only woman amongst 35 Yeoman of the Guard, long used to an exclusively male environment. All Yeomen – including Ms Cameron – have to have 22 years of service in the armed forces as a basic job criterion.

It is to the credit of the Tower of London management that they have stood resolutely against this sort of harrassment on the workplace – it is said to have included defacing Ms Cameron’s entry in Wikipedia – more the act of a schoolboy bully than of someone with such a major ceremonial role in the public eye and charged with protecting the crown jewels.

Mind you, given the double entendre associated with that phrase ‘crown jewels’ , maybe, in the circumstances,  that’s exactly what they thought they were protecting.