A Tory MP has lost the whip after claims he misused campaign funds.
Mark Menzies has been accused of using campaign funds for personal expenses, including one incident where he is said to have asked his former campaign manager for £5,000 to pay "bad people" who he claimed had detained him overnight in a flat.
The MP disputes the allegations but the Conservative Party is now looking into the claims.
According to the The Times, £14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities was transferred to Menzies’ personal bank accounts and used for private medical expenses.
The MP for Fylde lost the whip late last night and will sit as an independent until an investigation into the allegations has concluded
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The MP for Fylde, who was one of Rishi Sunak’s trade envoys, is also said to have called his 78-year-old former campaign manager just after 3am last December, claiming he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of “life and death”.
The money was reportedly handed over that morning but had increased to £6,500. It was said to have been topped up from the personal savings of Menzies' office manager, who was reimbursed from campaign donations.
According to a source close to Menzies, the MP had met a man on an online dating website and gone to the man’s flat, before subsequently going with another man to a second address where he continued drinking. He was said to have been sick at one point and several people at the address demanded £5,000, claiming it was for cleaning up and other expenses.
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: "Following a call with the Chief Whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation."
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The source said Menzies decided to pay them because he was scared of what would happen otherwise, but did not have the funds to transfer the money from his own savings.
Menzies is said to have used money from the campaign fund to cover his personal expenses on other occasions, including in 2020 when he allegedly sought £3,000 to cover medical bills, but he did not repay the money and instead asked for a further £4,000, The Times reported.
The newspaper said a source close to the MP disputed this account and that the former campaign manager had been the one who suggested Menzies use funds from the business account to pay his personal medical expenses, but she is understood to deny this.
A further £7,000 was received by Menzies from the account in November, it is alleged.
The MP lost the whip late last night, and will sit as an independent until an investigation into the allegations has concluded.
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: "Following a call with the Chief Whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation."
In a statement to The Times, Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a Member of Parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.
“The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said it was “frankly appalling” that the Conservative Party had been aware of the allegations for more than three months.
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“When our national security faces threats on many fronts, it is deeply concerning that some MPs are so open to traps, threats and manipulations,” she said.
A decade ago Mr Menzies quit as a ministerial aide following allegations about his behaviour made by a Brazilian male escort.