Commons threat for cash quiz MP
New Menzies probe over claim he paid Tory cash to ‘bad people
EXCLUSIVE MARK Menzies faces the threat of a Commons sleaze probe over claims he used campaign funds to pay “bad people”.
The Tory MP has been suspended by the party following allegations he called a 78-year-old former campaign manager at 3.15am claiming he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of “life and death”.
The sum, which rose to £6,500, was eventually paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from funds raised from party donors.
Lancashire Police are looking into the claims about the 52-year-old Fylde MP.
Now Mr Menzies could be subjected to a probe by Commons authorities into whether he should have declared the secret cash payments.
MPS are required to report donations and loans.
The Standards Commissioner can recommend MPS are suspended from the Commons, which can lead to them facing a by-election.
Mr Menzies says he “strongly disputes” the allegations – which come 10 years after he resigned as a ministerial aide following a Sunday Mirror investigation. Rogerio Santos, 19, a Brazilian male escort, told us the MP had paid him for sex and asked him to buy an illegal drug.
At the time in 2014, Mr Menzies said: “A number of these allegations are not true and I look forward to setting the record straight in due course.”
Labour says the Tories were too slow to act over the latest claims.
Katie Fieldhouse – the woman called by Mr Menzies in the early hours of December 1 – reported him to the chief whip in January. But he was only suspended last week after the story became public.