The Ever-Growing List of British MPs Accused of Sexual Misconduct

The latest sex scandal to engulf the UK Parliament implicates MPs from all parties in prostitution and unwelcome sexual advances towards staff on drunken official trips abroad. But the allegations are just the tip of the iceberg of sleaze since the current crop were elected three years ago.

The Houses of Parliament have been synonymous with scandal for decades, from the Profumo affair which brought down Harold MacMillan to government ministers Cecil Parkinson in the 80s and David Mellor's tryst with Antonia de Sancha in his Chelsea FC football shirt in the 90s.

But the current Parliament, elected three years ago, has seen a near-constant slew of sexual misconduct claims against MPs. Nearly 60 members of Parliament have faced allegations ranging from making inappropriate sexual comments to rape.

The latest allegations come hot on the heels of Solihull MP Julian Knight's suspension from the ruling Conservative Party whip on December 7, after the Metropolitan Police received a sexual assault complaint against him.

Knight insisted that he had "heard nothing from the police, the Whips Office or Parliament’s Internal Grievance Service, or been the subject of any investigation by the latter," and that the Tory whip's office had not even spoken to him about the claims.

The MP implied that the allegations had come from a disgruntled former member of his staff who was forced to resign months earlier over bullying claims.

"Subsequently, I have received what my lawyers advise are explicit threats involving blackmail as well as being at the centre of a campaign of rumour and innuendo," Knight said in a statement, adding that he was "recusing" himself from Parliament until "the matter is resolved."

Pincher by Name...

After weathering the Downing Street flat refurbishment and 'Partygate' scandals, former PM Boris Johnson was brought down in July by his choice of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.

Pincher had the whip suspended after a fellow Tory MP accused the Tamworth MP of groping two other men at the swanky private Carlton Club in London's West End in June.

It later emerged that Pincher had referred himself to a party watchdog in 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment against him by former Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story dating back to 2001. Further groping accusations by fellow MPs soon came out.

The Downing Street press team repeatedly changed their story on whether Johnson was aware of previous allegations against Pincher when he appointed him in his February reshuffle — leaving ministers struggling to defend the PM.

Double Trouble

Trouble had the habit of coming in twos for the Tories this year. In May, an un-named Conservative MP was arrested and questioned by London's Metropolitan Police on suspicion of incidents of rape and sexual assault over a seven-year period.

"In January 2020, the Met received a report relating to alleged sexual offences having been committed between 2002 and 2009. The offences are alleged to have occurred in London," the force said in a statement.

That same month, Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish resigned after he was spotted watching pornography on his mobile phone by a fellow backbencher during a Parliamentary debate.

Just a month earlier, the ruling party was rocked by another pair of sexual misconduct scandals.

Imran Ahmad Khan, then-MP for Wakefield, was convicted in April of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at a party in 2008, after plying him with gin and tonic and showing him a pornographic film. Another man later accused Khan of trying to seduce him at the age of 16 at a party in 2015.

Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton was suspended from the Tory whip earlier in April after he was accused of making unwanted advances toward three women — including two Parliamentary staff — and taking cocaine.

Warburton brazenly claimed that lines of white powder on an upturned baking dish in a photo of him were actually his dandruff — not the Devil's dandruff.

Jamie Wallis, MP for Bridgend in South Wales, came out as a transsexual in March this year after he crashed his car late at night — an accident he blamed on his 'transition'.

Wallis was convicted in July of failing to stop, failing to report a road traffic collision and leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position, and handed a six-month driving ban and a £2,500 fine. The court heard how the portly MP fled the scene of the crash in a black PVC mini-skirt, high heels, a pearl necklace and make-up, refusing help from a resident of the street where he crashed after a late-night visit to his estranged wife's home.

Delyn MP Rob Roberts, also elected as a Conservative, was censured by Parliament's Independent Experts' Panel (IEP) in May 2021 for making "repeated, unwelcome sexual advances" towards a male member of his staff. Roberts refused to resign, prompting the government to introduce a legislative amendment giving the IEP the same powers as the Parliamentary Standards Committee to suspend MPs, allowing for a recall petition to be launched by constituents.

Opposition Antics

But it is is not only members for the ruling party who have been accused of sex-pest behaviour.

Labour MP for Hartlepool Mike Hill stepped down in March 2021 after a female member of his staff accused him of sexual harassment, allegations that were later upheld by an inquiry. The ensuing by-election saw the Tories win the northern industrial seat for the first time since the 1960s.

An employment tribunal ordered Hill to pay his accuser £434,000 in compensation. "Ms A" told how Hill wrote to tell her how much he desired her body, and sent her messages saying: “I love you” and that he “wanted a sexual relationship”.

The plaintiff said Hill got into bed with her uninvited on two occasions when she accompanied him on official trips, telling how he rubbed his erect penis against her buttocks and fondled her breasts, despite earlier promising not to continue his attempts to seduce her.

Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) MP Patrick Grady resigned as the party's chief whip in Westminster, but not from his seat, the same month after allegations from two young male staffers of sexual harassment. SNP leaders were accused of trying to bury the claims.

Derek MacKay, former finance minister for the devolved Scottish regional administration, was forced to resign in February 2020 after it emerged that he had stalked a 16-year-old boy by sending him hundreds of online private messages, many of a sexual nature. MacKay continued to sit as a member of the Scottish assembly until the March 2021 election.