Sex texts shame MP back just in time to vote for Mrs May

TORY chiefs were last night accused of betraying women after they allowed a sex pest MP back into the party in time to help save Theresa May.

Andrew Griffiths was stripped of the Tory whip in July after it was revealed he bombarded two young women with lewd text messages. It was restored hours before the crucial confidence vote.

Mr Griffiths, 48, suggested a variety of depraved acts in more than 2,000 messages. He sent the texts, in which he referred to himself as ‘Daddy’, just weeks after his wife Kate, 47, had given birth to their long-awaited first child.

The decision to allow Mr Griffiths to return to the Tory benches came after party officials last month said he would escape punishment because of ill health.

A Tory investigation concluded the MP may have breached the party’s code of conduct, but it said further action would be inappropriate ‘given his state of mental health, both now and at the time’.

Mr Griffiths has blamed his actions on mental health problems and said his behaviour stemmed from abuse he suffered as a child.

The Burton and Uttoxeter MP, who is a former chief of staff to Mrs May, yesterday told his local paper he would be supporting the Prime Minister in the confidence vote. It prompted a furious reaction from female Labour MPs, including shadow women and equalities minister Dawn Butler, who said: ‘How can Theresa May call herself a feminist when she lets an MP who was suspended for sexual harassment back into the Conservative Party to vote for her? This is a betrayal of women.’

Fellow Labour MP Jess Phillips added: ‘They said it would be different. They said we won’t let patronage and power change our minds where wrongdoing occurred. They said we won’t protect our mates. They lied, they all lied. Same old same old.’

Deneice Florence-Jukes, a councillor on East Staffordshire council in Mr Griffiths’ constituency who accused him of bullying and inappropriate touching, said his return was a ‘desperate’ move.

‘It came as no surprise that shamefully the whip was restored to enable him to vote in support of Theresa May,’ she said. ‘The Tories are clearly willing to overlook his appalling treatment of women for the sake of their party. What message does that send out?’

Mr Griffiths told the Derby Telegraph he was backing the Prime Minister because she was ‘the best person to deliver the Brexit’ his constituents voted for.

A second MP, Charlie Elphicke, also had the Tory whip restored ahead of the vote. He is a member of the proBrexit European Research Group but did not say whether he intended to back Mrs May. Police questioned him earlier this year over alleged sex offences. He has maintained his innocence throughout.

‘A betrayal of women’