MP apologises over exposing himself in pub on phone clip
Revealed: Fatcats who bankrolled Boris’ assault on Labour heartland
Gascoyne-Cecil, seventh Marquis of Salisbury – donated £60,000 to Tory candidates fighting 15 marginal seats in the North and Midlands.
It included £5,000 for 26-year-old Dehenna Davison’s campaign in Bishop Auckland, where she ousted veteran Labour former minister Helen Goodman. The group also targeted Bassetlaw, previously held by ex-Labour MP John Mann, pouring £3,000 into new Tory MP Shaun Bailey’s campaign.
Billionaire Charles Cayzer and his family, who made their fortune in shipping during Britain’s imperial heyday handed more than £60,000 to successful Tory candidates in the months leading up to November, many of them fighting marginal seats in the North. They included £27,000 to the campaign of Ashfield MP Lee Anderson who beat Labour’s Gloria De Piero. As well as Labour, some northern Lib Dems and Tory Brexit rebels were also targeted.
Some candidates received thousands from multiple donors, who are not accused of any wrongRobert doing. Louise Haigh, Labour MP for nearby Sheffield Heeley, told the Mirror: “These figures reveal the war chest the Tories were relying on to sell Boris Johnson’s promises during the election.
“We will be holding him to account on those promises but it is highly likely that the only people to benefit from these donations will be the new Tory MPs and not the people they’re meant to serve.”
James Grundy
A TORY MP has apologised after video footage emerged of him exposing his genitals to women in a pub.
Leigh MP James Grundy, 41, is shown dropping his trousers to show his penis in camera phone footage.
Before undoing his zip, he is heard saying: “I want to make sure there’s no way you can get my face in this.”
Two women’s voices are then heard telling him to lift his “shirt up” so his groin can be seen by the camera.
After the footage was obtained by LBC radio station, Mr Grundy said: “I apologise for my actions and for any offence caused.”
Last year he was the first Tory MP to be elected in the “red wall” seat of Leigh, Greater Manchester for 97 years.
It is understood the footage was filmed in late 2007, when he would have been 28, and the women involved were over the age of 18.
In other footage, apparently filmed in the same pub, he is seen singing Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Adam and the Ants’ Stand and Deliver.
The incident took place in the Rams Head Inn in Lowton, a few minutes’ walk from the farm then owned by his family.
Mr Grundy was elected as a councillor just months later.
According to LBC, the footage was sent to Conservative Party Headquarters shortly after it was filmed.
The Conservative Party declined to comment.