Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tory councillor reported sex pest Griffiths for touching her knee but he still got ministry job
He humiliated me, claimed accuser
SHAMED sex-texts Tory Andrew Griffiths was given a Government job while being under investigation for claims of inappropriate touching and bullying, it was revealed last night.
The accusation against him involved an alleged incident in 2016. However, an independent investigation cleared him and no action was taken.
Constituents demanded he quit as an MP after he admitted sending two female constituents sleazy messages.
It has now emerged a Conservative councillor accused him of being “very forward” by touching her knee and clutching her waist at a fundraising ball.
Cllr Deneice Florence-jukes wrote to Tory HQ complaining that she had been “completely humiliated and bullied” by Mr Griffiths over several months.
The complaint was reportedly referred to the party’s newly founded sexual harassment hotline last November.
Griffiths was made Minister for Small Business on January 10 while the inquiry was ongoing. It ended in February after he claimed that it was “implausible” for him to have touched a colleague’s knee in a room full of people. The alleged incident was initially reported to Richard Grosvenor, Tory leader of East Staffs Borough Council.
Mr Grosvenor said he had met Ms Florence-jukes after she made the claim, saying she was in “floods of tears”.
He told the Mirror: “Andrew has a problem, for which he is seeking help. I have got nothing but sympathy and compassion for him in that problem.”
On the sex texts, he said Griffiths’ behaviour was “completely wrong” and called for him to step down as an MP.
“Andrew has to consider his position,” he went on. “I don’t see how he can hope to meet residents in the capacity of a constituency MP now.” He also said