A CONSERVATIVE MP has suspended a member of his staff after footage appeared to show him dressed up as Jimmy Savile and simulating a sex act on an inflatable doll at a Halloween party, The National can reveal.
Daniel Sydenham has been suspended from his role as a senior parliamentary assistant to Paul Holmes, the Tory MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire over the video.
The National was passed footage of Sydenham dressed up as the disgraced TV presenter, who was posthumously revealed as one of Britain’s most prolific sexual predators.
The footage, sent to us by a concerned constituent, appears to show Sydenham in Savile’s trademark brightly coloured shell suit and tinted glasses holding aloft a blow-up sex doll.
A voice off-camera can be heard saying “go” at which point Sydenham appears to mimic a sexual act on the doll before lifting it above his head and grinning at the camera.
A caption on the footage, before a tag linking to Sydenham’s social media account, reads: “Jim fixed it for me.”
Holmes has now said he has suspended the employee and is in contact with Parliament’s human resources department.
In a statement, Holmes said: “I have suspended the individual concerned whilst an investigation takes place. I in no way condone or tolerate the actions of the individual.”
Prior to his death, Savile was best known as the presenter of Jim’ll Fix It, broadcast on BBC One between 1975 and 1994, which saw children write in with their “wishes” – including meeting celebrities, which the presenter would grant.
Allegations around Savile’s paedophilia circulated during his life but exploded following his death in 2011.
In response to an ITV documentary exposing Savile (above) as a sex predator, the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree, which was contacted by around 300 victims.
His crimes were dramatised in the BBC's The Reckoning starring Steve Coogan as Savile, which aired earlier this month.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Sydenham worked for the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 before taking on jobs in the offices of a number of Tory MPs.
Sydenham took up a role with Holmes in 2022, when the MP was the parliamentary private secretary to then home secretary Priti Patel.
Sydenham was promoted to be Holmes’s senior parliamentary assistant in October last year.
Holmes currently works as Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove’s parliamentary private secretary, a role which is unpaid and intended to give ministers “eyes and ears” on the backbenches.
The National has attempted to reach Sydenham for comment.
