A Conservative MP investigated over claims he asked a female intern to ‘fool around with no strings’ before begging ‘pweeease’ has been referred to Parliament’s standards body.
Delyn MP Rob Roberts, 40, who came out in May, allegedly praised the 21-year-old for her ‘lovely legs’ then WhatsApped her ‘might be gay but I enjoy… fun times’.
He also confessed to asking out a male House of Commons employee, which led them to move position.
Mr Roberts’ own party is investigating him over the messages but scrutiny of the politician has deepened after a Labour leader referred him to the MP watchdog.
Charlotte Nichols, MP for Warrington North, tweeted: “I reported @RobDelyn via the third party reporting line over a month ago.
“I called on @Conservatives to remove the Whip and refer him over a month ago.
“This is totally unacceptable conduct for an MP. The @Conservatives should immediately remove the Whip from Bob Roberts, and refer him to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. No excuses.”
The watchdog will look at if he broke the House of Commons Code of Conduct and if finds against him can escalate matters via a formal report to the Select Committee on Standards.
That committee’s ultimate punishments can ask MPs to be suspended without pay or even expelled from Parliament – although has never exercised this final sanction.
It emerged after calls this morning for the Tories to remove the whip from him while the ‘incredibly serious allegations’ were investigated.
The texts at the centre of the investigation are dated April 12 and show Mr Roberts urging the young woman to have ‘happy thoughts’ when she was upset.
MP Rob Roberts was today at the centre of a probe into texts propositioning an intern
He appears to then add ‘I was just thinking about fun times.
‘Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you’.
At the end of May Mr Roberts announced he had split from his wife Alexandra ‘six weeks ago’ – placing the split in the middle of April.
His constituency page makes no reference to his new situation and still says he ‘currently lives in Mold with my wife and daughter’.
The new messages were revealed to BBC Wales by the intern, who said they had made her feel ‘incredibly sick’.
She said: ‘I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying I’m crying, I’m not okay – and his solution to that was to proposition me.’
The female intern, 21, said the messages which the MP has not yet commented on had made her feel ‘incredibly sick’ and worried about returning to Parliament
‘I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything.’
‘I kind of felt backed into a corner about everything. I was worried about my job first of all, and I was worried about being involved in politics and I felt like I had to respond, but I wasn’t really comfortable responding.’
Afterwards she said she no longer felt comfortable about returning to Parliament and had made her mental health problems worse.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said it had been made aware of the complaint and messages and were looking into them.
They added: ‘Our party takes all allegations extremely seriously and has safeguarding and complaints processes in place to investigate complaints made to it under the party’s code of conduct.’
Mr Roberts was elected as the Conservative MP for Delyn in north Wales in December 2019.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Mr Roberts in a selfie captured at an event last year
His seat was a gain from Labour in the so-called Red Wall and had been previously held by Labour MP David Hanson since 1992.
On May 17 this year he posted a number of messages where he came out.
Then 11 days later his family home was at the centre of a lockdown row after neighbours spoke of their anger today after a 40th birthday party was held there.
Police broke up the celebration and two people were thrown out after officers arrived in their car just after 5pm.
Mr Roberts pleaded ignorance when quizzed by reporters at his home, despite a silvery ’40’ banner being visible behind him.
Answering the door to the family’s modern detached home, he said: ‘What party?’ when questioned by MailOnline.
Mr Roberts’ family’s home, where he was quizzed about a 40th birthday party earlier this year
In a separate series of messages to a male Parliament member of staff, Mr Roberts admitted asking him out.
He said he told him ‘that I liked him and asked him to dinner’.
Mr Roberts added: ‘Really poor judgement on my part, hands up. He didn’t react very well because it created a problem for him that I felt that way
‘My invitation was not accepted and the staff member did not feel comfortable about it.
‘I do now recognise that it was inappropriate to have extended the invitation to a member of staff in the first place.
‘However, I have found the last few months and the ‘coming out’ process to have been particularly challenging and the cause of a great deal of mental stress to me.
‘Creating a story from this interaction which has been dealt with amicably seems calculated to add to that stress, which is distressing.’
Commenting on the latest allegations against Conservative MP Rob Roberts, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP said:
‘These are incredibly serious allegations that cannot just be brushed under the carpet. Women must be able to work in politics and know that it is a safe place for them.
‘The Conservative Party must immediately remove the party whip while they urgently investigate, or they risk sending the message that they view this behaviour as acceptable conduct for a sitting Conservative MP.’