The dismissal of Conor Burns as a minister follows a string of incidents in which Tory MPs have been accused of inappropriate behaviour. Burns told the Sun: “I will fully cooperate with the party’s enquiry and look forward to clearing my name.”
30 July 2020
Charlie Elphicke is found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against two women, less than a year after resigning as the Conservative MP for Dover. Elphicke had denied the three charges, two of which related to a parliamentary worker. He was jailed for two years and was released halfway through his sentence. His wife, Natalie Elphicke, who succeeded him as MP for Dover in December 2019, has said she has filed for divorce.
25 May 2021
Rob Roberts, the Conservative MP for Delyn in north Wales, is found by parliament’s independent expert panel to have made “significant” repeated unwanted sexual advances towards a former member of staff, as well as inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. He is suspended for 12 weeks by the Conservatives but allowed to rejoin the party in October 2021. He now sits as an independent.
10 December 2021
The former Conservative minister Andrew Griffiths is found by a high court judge to have raped his wife, subjected her to coercive control and physically assaulted her. Griffiths, who denied the allegations, had stepped down as an MP in November 2019 after it emerged that he had sent up to 2,000 sexually explicit text message to two much younger women. His wife, Kate Griffiths, who left him when the original stories broke, succeeded him as MP for Burton in Staffordshire. She has divorced him and reverted to her maiden surname, Kniveton.
2 April 2022
David Warburton, the Conservative MP for Somerton and Frome, is suspended from the Tory parliamentary party after a series of allegations relating to sexual harassment and cocaine use. An investigation by Westminster’s independent complaints and grievance scheme is under way.
11 April 2022
Imran Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, is found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after plying him with gin at a party in 2008. He resigns as an MP on 28 April, triggering a byelection that Labour wins on 23 June.
29 April 2022
Neil Parish, the Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, lost the whip and resigned his seat a day later after admitting he twice watched pornography in the House of Commons chamber. His resignation prompts a byelection that results in a decisive Liberal Democrat victory on 23 June.
17 May 2022
An unnamed Conservative MP is arrested on suspicion of rape and other sexual offences. The MP, who has not been publicly named, is ordered to stay away from Westminster while under investigation by the Metropolitan police. He remains on bail.
30 June 2022
Chris Pincher, the Conservative deputy chief whip, resigns after admitting he had “embarrassed myself and other people” following reports that he drunkenly groped two men at a private club. It is the second time Pincher has resigned from the whips’ office, having previously stood down in 2017 after he was reported to have made an unwanted pass at a Tory activist.
