Minister in clear over lewd remarks storm
A MINISTER who called his Commons secretary ‘sugar t*ts’ and had her buy sex toys as presents was cleared of misconduct by a Whitehall sleaze inquiry yesterday.
International trade minister Mark Garnier was found not to have broken the ministerial code because the allegations date from when he was just an MP.
Theresa May said last night that ‘a line should be drawn under the issue’ after Mr Garnier wrote a letter of apology to his former secretary, Caroline Edmondson.
The inquiry began after she told how he had given her money in 2010 to buy two vibrators at a Soho sex shop – one for his wife and one for a woman in his constituency office.
Miss Edmondson, who now works for another MP, said that on another occasion in a bar, in front of witnesses, he told her: ‘You are going nowhere, sugar t*ts.’
Mr Garnier admitted the claims but said the ‘sugar t*ts’ comment was part of an ‘amusing conversation’, while the sex toys were bought after a Christmas lunch.
Miss Edmonson, meanwhile, has apparently put the trauma of her alleged sexual harassment behind her. She was pictured smiling broadly and holding a box of icing sugar on the front of her Christmas card with partner Jon Craig of Sky News.
Responding to news that Mr Garnier had been cleared of misconduct, she said last night that she agreed it was time to ‘draw a line under it’.