TORY MP QUITS OVER GROPE ROW
Boris ally resigns following claims of drunken assault on Labour MP in Commons bar Victim left ‘shocked and mortified’ by incident which is being probed by watchdog
A LEADING Boris Johnson ally sensationally stepped down last night amid allegations that he ‘sexually assaulted’ another MP in a Commons bar.
ross Thomson announced that he will not stand as a candidate for Aberdeen South in the general Election.
His decision followed the revelation by Labour’s Paul Sweeney yesterday that he was the MP who had reported Mr Thomson to Westminster authorities over an incident last year.
Mr Sweeney claimed he had been left ‘paralysed’ with shock after Mr Thomson groped him in the Strangers’ Bar as he spoke with friends.
Ardent Brexiteer Mr Thomson said yesterday that the allegations had made his life a ‘living hell’.
He had been one of Mr Johnson’s biggest supporters in Scotland, endorsing him during the Conservative leadership contest earlier this year. Mr Thomson was seen
shielding Mr Johnson from a media scrum after he had addressed a Tory conference rally in Birmingham last October and later dismissed claims that Mr Johnson was unpopular in Scotland as ‘nonsense’.
Mr Johnson appointed Mr Thomson chairman of his operations north of the Border during the party leadership contest.
The role saw him co-ordinate Scotland’s pro-Boris MPs, MSPs, councillors and ordinary party members.
Yesterday, sources close to Glasgow North East MP Mr Sweeney said reporting the alleged incident to the police ‘remains an option’.
However, Mr Thomson, 32, has strenuously denied the allegations and has accused Mr Sweeney of launching a ‘politically motivated’ smear campaign just days after a General Election was called.
He also claimed the accusations had a severe impact on his mental health and said he was exploring legal options.
Mr Sweeney, 30, first made allegations against Mr Thomson in February anonymously, telling the Daily Record he had experienced ‘unwanted physical touching’.
The incident is alleged to have taken place in the Strangers’ Bar in October 2018.
Yesterday, Mr Sweeney told how he had reported the allegations to the Parliamentary Standards Commission, which has been investigating since February. He says he had given a group of friends from Glasgow University a tour of the House of Commons and afterwards they went for a drink.
Mr Sweeney alleges Mr Thomson was ‘drunk to the point where he was barely able to stand up’ and interrupted them in the Strangers’ Bar.
He then claims Mr Thomson groped him through his clothes while making suggestive noises in his ear.
Mr Sweeney told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I felt paralysed. It was just such a shocking thing. I was in a cold sweat and it was mortifying.
‘Nobody knew where to look at the table. It’s embarrassing.
‘In the back of my mind, I was thinking that if I just punched the guy, who knows where that could end up when there’s a bar full of journalists. I couldn’t fight, so I took flight.’
Mr Sweeney said that he went to sit with another group of MPs and told them about the incident. However, he claims Mr Thomson followed him and continued to ‘pet’ him before he left the bar.
Mr Sweeney initially made the allegations in February after another incident in which Mr Thomson was accused of ‘sexual touching’ and was spoken to by the police.
Yesterday, Mr Sweeney said: ‘He’s not fit to hold public office. I don’t think he’s fit to be a Member of Parliament.’
Mr Sweeney said he had ‘downplayed it at first – because it wasn’t rape’. However, he said he took advice from a Women’s Aid Charity after speaking to a colleague, MP Jess Phillips. Mr Sweeney said: ‘I sat on this for ages because I didn’t want to make a fuss out of it. But when I go into the chamber and he’s there doing a speech, it’s still there – that intimidation. He knows, and I know what went on there. I can’t get away from him.
‘The House of Commons is 650 MPs in a very confined environment – it’s not like you can just not see the person.’
Mr Sweeney said he has asked Labour Whips to be moved office as his is currently just 60 feet away from Mr Thomson’s – but no action has been taken yet.
He added: ‘Basically, I have to work on the same corridor as someone who sexually assaulted me. Imagine someone has sexually assaulted you and they won’t do anything about the fact the guy sits at a desk across from you every day. How would that feel for you?’
The parliamentary inquiry is yet to report its findings. Sources close to Mr Sweeney say he has ‘rather lost faith’ in the process.
They said that, depending on the outcome, reporting the alleged incident to the police ‘remains an option’.
Mr Thomson publicly backed Mr Johnson to become Prime Minister in June, claiming the UK ‘needs a leader, not a manager’. Mr
Thomson has strongly denied any wrongdoing and has accused Mr Sweeney of reigniting the accusations ahead of the General Election campaign.
Last night, he said: ‘I have made clear already today that the allegations printed in The Mail on Sunday are false and defamatory.
‘This is a political smear and I will continue to fight to clear my name. I will see this investigatory process through to a conclusion. Anonymous and malicious allegations this year have made my life a living hell. It has been nothing short of traumatic.
‘I have suffered a level of personal abuse that has affected my health, my mental wellbeing and my staff. It has been a level of abuse that I never imagined possible.
‘I always believed politics was about noble pursuits and doing what you believed to be best for your country.
‘My experience is that our politics is now so poisonous that we will never attract good, honest and decent people in the first place.
‘I have therefore made the most difficult decision that I could ever make. I have decided that I will stand down as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Aberdeen South.’
Mr Thomson went on to thank his family, friends and staff, saying: ‘Serving as the MP for Aberdeen South has been the absolute privilege of my life.’
He added: ‘This has been without doubt the hardest decision of my life. I remain confident that the ongoing parliamentary standards process will find in my favour, and that these baseless claims will be shown up for what they are.
‘As I have already said, I will continue to explore all options available to me in response to the defamatory and damaging allegations made by Mr Sweeney.’
In March last year, Mr Thomson provoked criticism after being photographed sitting on Saddam Hussein’s throne during a visit to Iraq.
He joked online about channelling his ‘inner dictator’. He later said he did not intend to cause offence with the post.
‘He’s not fit to hold public office’