The Conservative former minister arrested on suspicion of rape has agreed not to return to work at Westminster next month after his bail was extended to November, his party announced on Sunday. With the House of Commons summer recess due to end on 1 September, opposition parties had called for the MP to be suspended from parliament. Instead it is understood he has voluntarily agreed not to attend the House of Common, but will continue to represent his constituents from home. He will not have the party whip suspended while the police investigation continues. In a statement released on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Conservative whips’ office said: “These are serious allegations and it is right that they are investigated fully. A decision on the whip will be reviewed once the police investigation has been concluded.” The accused MP, who has not been named, was taken into custody in east London on 1 August and subsequently released while investigations are carried out. The complainant, a former parliamentary aide, reported four incidents alleged to have taken place between July 2019 and January 2020 in Westminster, Lambeth and Hackney. She alleges that the MP assaulted her, forced her to have sex, and left her so traumatised that she had to go to hospital. The Sunday Times reported that the allegations were first reported to the Conservative chief whip, Mark Spencer. It is understood Spencer does not believe a sexual assault was reported to him in his conversation with the complainant, but acknowledges that she reported “abusive behaviour and threats”. He advised her to go to the independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS). The alleged victim made her claims to the ICGS this year.
Campaigners including the TUC and the Fawcett Society have called for parliamentary authorities to take action. “The House of Commons should be no different from any other workplace. Safety and the safeguarding of staff must be paramount. Failure to suspend is yet another example of minimising violence against women and girls and failure to believe victims and survivors when they bravely speak out,” they said. Jess Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said: “Safeguarding can’t be done by half measures. To suggest that there is no safeguarding risk through online contact with constituents shows a worrying lack of understanding of how abuse manifests. “This halfway house of allowing him to work from home is a product of the Conservatives failing to take fair, clear and decisive action over this very serious issue, and we should expect better from a party of government.” A statement from the Metropolitan police said: “A man in his 50s was arrested on Saturday 1 August 2020. His bail to return date has been extended to early November 2020. The investigation is being undertaken by the Met central specialist crime complex case team.” News of the former minister’s arrest emerged days after Charlie Elphicke, a former Conservative party whip and married father of two, became the first MP in a generation to be convicted of sexual assault. He was found guilty of three charges of sexual assault dating back to 2007 and 2016, including one incident in which he forced himself on a woman at his Belgravia home, groped her and shouted: “I’m a naughty Tory.” The former prime minister Theresa May’s government faced criticism after removing the whip from Elphicke when allegations first emerged, only to return it before a crucial confidence vote.