AN MP who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by five of his colleagues has hit back after he was accused of “publicity-seeking” by former minister Nadine Dorries.
Chris Bryant, who told the i newspaper he had been groped by five MPs since joining the Commons in 2001, said Dorries’s comments were “typical” of the former culture secretary who he is currently battling to remove from Parliament.
Dorries, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, accused the Labour MP of attention-seeking – which Bryant said was ironic.
She appeared on the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here in 2012, for which she briefly lost the Conservative whip because she failed to clear the appearance with party bosses.
Ahh, Chris Bryant has a book out - well, I never. This latest bout of publicity seeking was so unlike him… All is now clear… Sir Chris Bryant says he has been assaulted by five MPshttps://t.co/XczUYXGgEC
— Rt Hon Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) August 8, 2023
Despite announcing she would step down as an MP “with immediate effect” in June, Dorries has remained in Parliament to investigate why she was not nominated for a peerage.
To force her into standing down, Bryant, the chair of the Commons standards committee, hopes to revive a 19th-century law which could see her face a vote on her continued membership of the Commons.
She has not voted in the Commons since April 2023 and the last she spoke in the chamber was on July 7, 2022.
Responding to a news report of Bryant’s sexual assault claims, Dorries tweeted: “Ahh, Chris Bryant has a book out - well, I never.
“This latest bout of publicity seeking was so unlike him… All is now clear…”
In an email to The National, Bryant responded: “This is typical of Nadine Dorries. Instead of condemning the sexual harassment, she decides to accuse me, oh irony of ironies, of attention seeking.
“Yes, I do have a book out next week. It’s all about politics and MPs doing their job properly.
“It’s about time Nadine Dorries either turned up in Parliament and started representing her constituents or honour her pledge to resign with immediate effect.
“We used to have a rule, from 1801, enforcing attendance on lazy MPs. We should bring that back in cases such as this.
“After all, if you’re a councillor and you don’t turn up for six months you get thrown off the council, unless you’ve got a good reason such as illness.
“Why not make this apply to MPs? The book is called Code of Conduct: Why We Need To Fix Parliament and How To Do It. It’s out on August 17.”
Bryant’s comments to the i newspaper are not the first time he has spoken about his experiences of alleged sexual assault in the Commons, previously sharing his story on LBC in 2022.
She faced an online backlash over her comments, with one Twitter user responding: “A useless MP and seemingly a fairly nasty person. To belittle someone for speaking about sexual assault is disgusting.
“Do the honourable thing, Nadine, and finally resign so someone with decency can be elected by the people of Mid Beds, who you are letting down over and over.”
