Four more women have come forward to make a complaint to the parliamentary authorities about Tory MP Julian Knight regarding his inappropriate comments and behaviour, according to the BBC.
The broadcaster also reported that five different women and a third-party witness had previously raised sexual misconduct allegations about him to the authorities.
Some of the complaints said that the MP contacted women on social media to offer career support before he would become inappropriate with them.
These new allegations come days after the senior MP announced that he would stand down at the next general election after his demand to have his Tory whip restored was rejected.
His whip was removed in the aftermath of previous allegations made against him in 2022.
But, who exactly is Julian Knight? Here is everything we know about the Tory MP for Solihull.
Who is Julian Knight?
Julian Knight, 51, is a former journalist who became a politician.
The Chester native studied History at the University of Hull before moving to London to pursue a career.
Eventually, he started working for a local newspaper, launching his career in journalism. He was the BBC’s personal finance and consumer affairs reporter for five years, but left in 2007 to become The Independent on Sunday’s Money and Property Editor.
In 2014, Knight became the Conservative candidate for Solihull, winning the seat at the 2015 General Election. To this day, he has remained as Solihull’s MP.
Since then, the politician has worked as the Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, and the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Mongolia.
In December 2022, the MP got suspended after a complaint about him was made to the Met about alleged sexual assault. Knight said he was innocent and denied the allegations. He told the PA news agency: “I remain the subject of what appears to be a smear campaign conducted through leaks, false innuendo and briefings.”
While the Met eventually dropped the investigation, the Conservative party never reinstated his whip. So, he is currently an independent MP.
Update (8 July 2024): An earlier version of this article stated that the police dropped ‘charges’ against Mr Knight. Although the police investigated an allegation of sexual assault, Mr Knight was never arrested and the investigation was dropped without any charges being brought against him. We are happy to clarify matters.
