Former Tory MP cleared of groping in Commons bar

A FORMER Scottish Tory MP said he was considering legal action after being cleared of allegations of sexual misconduct by the Commons standards watchdog.

Ross Thomson was investigated after Paul Sweeney, a former Labour MP, said the Tory had “groped” him in a Westminster bar.

The former Aberdeen South MP said yesterday that the investigation “clearly showed” the claims were a “smear”, adding he has been through a “living hell with these false allegations”.

Mr Thomson, who ran Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign in Scotland, stood down as the party’s candidate for his seat in November last year after Mr Sweeney went public with the accusations. But Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, found that witness accounts did not support the allegations.

She concluded that Mr Sweeney’s account was of “behaviour that was highly unlikely to have gone unnoticed by others in the immediate vicinity”.

In addition, she said details of the account provided by the former Labour MP f or Glasgow North East had changed, with “new elements introduced over time, some of which have not been substantiated.”

Mr Thomson said: “From the start of this ordeal I maintained that I was the victim of a smear and the 19-month investigation clearly showed this to be the case.”

The former MP added: “I was forced to give up the job I loved, making myself and my office staff unemployed.” He said he was “currently exploring all legal avenues.”

Mr Sweeney has the right to appeal to an independent expert panel.

Joanna Cherry, a senior SNP MP, tweeted: “I’m no fan of Ross Thomson’s politics but it’s a disgrace that his career and life have been ruined by an unproven allegation.”