Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tory MP rape accuser: They never cared
HOT air balloons take to the skies in Europe’s largest ballooning bash.
The event, which usually attracts 500,000 fans, was not open to crowds. Chris Allcock, of the Bristol
International Balloon Fiesta, said he was “saddened” spectators were absent yesterday, but hoped the 43 balloons lifted people’s spirits as they watched from their gardens.
THE woman who claims she was raped by a Tory MP has slammed the decision not to suspend him.
A senior Conservative accused party chiefs of turning a blind eye to the case, as pressure mounted on Boris Johnson to remove the whip from the former minister.
The alleged victim branded Chief Whip Mark Spencer’s decision to keep him in the party “insulting” and said: “It shows they never cared.”
The female Tory MP added: “Clearly the whips should have gripped this a long time ago. As a woman I find it really offensive. Sexual violence is something I care about. When you see the machinery of government looking the other way because it is convenient, it makes me sick. I think the Prime Minister needs a wake up call on this because he does have a woman problem. This doesn’t help him.”
Shadow Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips reiterated her call for the Tories to suspend the MP, who is in his 50s, as police investigate the rape claims against him.
She said: “Of course everybody is innocent until proven guilty.
“However, I’m not sure that I would want to send my child, for example, to a school where a teacher had been arrested and bailed for the crime of rape. I would expect in those circumstances, as is safeguarding law, that those people would be suspended pending further investigation.
“The PM has to answer if is he happy for a young woman who might have been raped or abused to seek advice from this person.”
Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday refused to give a direct reply when asked if he thought the MP should be suspended.
He said: “I think it’s only right that we wait for that investigation to conclude before you’ll be hearing from the Chief Whip as to the action the Conservative Party will take.” The MP was arrested on Saturday and quizzed by police in East London over four separate alleged attacks on the woman, in her 20s, before being released on bail. He denies the allegations and his local party said they are backing him “100%”.
Mr Spencer, who enforces party discipline, has been accused of failing to act on the allegation for months after it emerged that he had spoken to the woman in April.
The PM’S official spokesman has repeatedly refused to comment on whether the whip should have been removed from the MP as it is an “ongoing police investigation”.