Mel B gives powerful speech at Tory conference: ‘I’m the last person you would expect to find here’
Me B spoke at a Tory conference event. (Getty/Conservative Party)
Spice Girl Mel B spoke at a Conservative Party Conference event to plead with the government for domestic abuse reform.
Mel B spoke at a fringe event at the Tory conference in Birmingham on Sunday (2 October).
The singer and activist joked she was the “last person” people would expect to attend the event, before delivering a heartfelt speech calling for better support for domestic abuse survivors.
The 47-year-old said: “I’m probably the last person you would expect to find at a Tory party conference.
“I am not here because I am Mel B, Scary Spice from the Spice Girls, I am here because I am Melanie Brown MBE.” She received the honour for services to domestic violence victims.
Mel B said she had been in an abusive relationship for a decade but “kept it a complete secret”, the Metro reported.
She has alleged that her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte was physically and emotionally abusive towards her. He has denied the claims
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Describing how she hid the alleged abuse, she said: “I went on tour with the Spice Girls, I was a judge on America’s Got Talent – voted best judge, if you can be voted the best judge on a TV show.
“I put on a smile for the cameras because that is my job and I know I am really good at it as well.”
Due to the alleged abuse, Mel said, she become isolated, unable to access her money, left without a support network, and also attempting to take her own life.
“I couldn’t pick up the phone to call my mum, my friends, I didn’t have access to anything, and you think, well, Spice Girls are all about girl power, but let me tell you, when these abusers get their hooks into you, there is no way out, really – so you think.”
Following seven previous attempts and the death of her father, Mel was able to leave the relationship.
She is now calling for better support for domestic abuse survivors through the health service and court system.
“Every judge I have come across looks in complete horror like: ‘Well, you look put together, you look all right, what is wrong with you?’
“Domestic abuse is everywhere in society. You can be from a council estate, which I am, or you can be from a country estate – which I am now.”
Home Office minister Mims Davies also spoke at the event, and said the government was trying to encourage a “whole societal attitude to change”, as well as teaching men and boys to recognise abusive behaviour.
Ms Davies said: “As the minister for safeguarding, I have got a fairly big inbox and this is absolutely one of the crucial ones.
“Let’s say no to tolerance on this. This is criminality in homes. It is time that we really push on and help women to move forward from this, and there is no opportunity for people to find tolerance at long last.”
Earlier this year the singer received an MBE from King Charles III following her work with Women’s Aid charity.
Mel B became a patron of the charity in 2018 after leaving what she described as an abusive relationship.
