Top Tory: Minister ‘bribed’ me to stay silent over boy’s A&E death

THE Conservatives were facing an NHS sleaze row last night over claims a Minister tried to ‘bribe’ an MP into staying silent about A&E cuts.

A book by a former Tory MP claims the Minister offered to make him a trade envoy if he agreed not to ask David Cameron, during Prime Minister’s Questions, about claims that a boy had died because of A&E cuts.

Nick de Bois says in his memoir, Confessions Of A Recovering MP, that he gave short shrift to the unnamed Cameron ‘adviser’ and Minister – described as ‘short’ and with the manner of a ‘friendly uncle’. He added that he wanted to ‘grab him by the feet and head and stretch him out from his snugly fit suit’.

The book lifts the lid on the corridors of power – and is partly a Westminster ‘whodunit’ with clues about the identity of several unnamed senior Tories. It is believed the Minister in the alleged ‘bribe’ row was John Hayes, who quit as Transport Minister last week. In the book, Mr de Bois also: Accuses ‘taciturn Theresa May’ of publicly humiliating a Tory MP who defended a schoolgirl facing deportation during her exams.

Says the parliamentary sex scandal was ‘inevitable’ because of the ‘prolific sexual activity’ at Westminster.

Admits ogling Ed Balls’s ‘fetching’ wife Yvette Cooper during a debate while tipsy.

Describing the alleged bid to gag him, Mr de Bois writes: ‘This really did happen. Bribery. A routine question to the PM had led to a covert job offer.’

He said he told the Minister: ‘You can offer me the post of Foreign f****** Secretary. I’m asking the bloody question.’

Mr de Bois says the job offer was scrapped after he refused to stay silent. He complained to whips but no action was taken.

Mr Hayes said last night he had ‘no recollection’ of the alleged incident, and he denied the ‘bribe’ claim.