Conservative MP’s aide denies rape charges

A Conservative MP’s aide has denied raping a woman at the Palace of Westminster last October.

Samuel Armstrong, 23, from Danbury in Essex, is charged with two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration in relation to the alleged attack last October. Mr Armstrong, who has been suspended as chief of staff to Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, denied all four charges at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. He will appear for trial on December 11.