Tory MP Mark Menzies once quizzed by police over claims he got a dog drunk is now suspended over allegations he called a party volunteer, 78, at 3am and told her he needed thousands of pounds from campaign funds because he'd been locked up by 'bad people'
An MP who was once quizzed by police over claims he got a dog drunk has lost the Tory whip amid serious allegations he misused campaign funds.
Mark Menzies, who has served as the MP for Fylde in Lancashire since 2010, allegedly made a 3am call to a 78-year-old party volunteer because he had been locked up by 'bad people' who were demanding thousands of pounds for his release.
Mr Menzies disputes the allegations but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims and taking them seriously.
According to The Times, £14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities was transferred to Mr Menzies' personal bank accounts and used for private medical expenses.
The shamed MP was also previously accused of getting a friend's dog drunk in 2017, paying for sex from a male escort in 2014 and drunkenly 'kicking chairs and poking people' at a Last Night of the Proms concert as recently as last August.
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.'
Mark Menzies (pictured) has lost the Tory whip amid serious allegations he misused campaign funds
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart (pictured) said Mr Menzies has agreed to give up the Tory whip pending an investigation
This means that Mr Menzies is no longer a Tory MP and will sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons.
It is yet another headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after another MP, William Wragg, gave up the whip last week after admitting he had given his colleagues' phone number to someone on a dating app in a suspected honeytrap scandal.
Police are investigating reports explicit images and flirtatious texts were sent to multiple MPs in what is believed to be a 'spear-phishing' attack and a deliberate attempt to compromise Westminster.
Mr Menzies, who is one of Mr Sunak's trade envoys, is said to have called his former campaign manager at 3.15am one morning in December, claiming he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of 'life and death'.
The unnamed woman refused and is said to have told the MP she would speak to his constituency office manager in the morning.
A few hours later the sum demanded, which rose to £6,500, was eventually paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from funds raised from donors in an account named Fylde Westminster Group, it is alleged.
After being rescued from the flat, Mr Menzies is said to have rang the 78-year-old up again to tell her he had asked one of his London staffers to collect him.
The junior staffer allegedly handed over his own money, thought to be a few hundred pounds, which Mr Menzies said he owed to two other men.
It is yet another headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured)
The next day, on another call, Mr Menzies allegedly said he needed another £35,000 for medical bills. When he was told there were no more campaign funds, he allegedly replied: 'Oh, we'll raise some more.'
According to a source close to Mr 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.
It was falsely claimed he was sick at one point and several people at the address demanded £5,000, claiming it was for cleaning up and other expenses.
The source said Mr 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.
They claimed the MP subsequently offered to reimburse the monies to the fund but was allegedly told he did not have to.
There are other occasions where Mr Menzies is said to have used money from the campaign fund to cover his personal expenses.
In 2020 he allegedly sought £3,000 to cover medical bills, but he did not repay the money and instead asked for and received a further £4,000, The Times reported.
The newspaper said a source close to the MP disputed this account. Several years later, by which time a different campaign manager was in post, a further £7,000 was received by Mr Menzies from the account in November, it is alleged in The Times.
William Wragg gave up the Tory whip last week after admitting he had given his colleagues' phone number to someone on a dating app suspected to be involved in a honeytrap plot
The newspaper reports that in January, following the MPs alleged 3.15am December phone call, the former campaign manager reported what had happened to Mr Hart, alleging misuse of donor's money and abuse of privilege and an investigation was opened.
In a statement to The Times, Mr 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.
'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.
'Rishi Sunak must suspend the whip for Mark Menzies immediately, while all the relevant authorities investigate the matter.'
A decade ago Mr Menzies quit as a ministerial aide following allegations about his behaviour made by a Brazilian male escort.
The MP, who was born in Ayrshire, was raised by his mother after his Merchant Navy father died a month before he was born.
Mr Menzies (pictured) was first elected as MP for Fylde in 2010 when David Cameron was prime minister
He studied economic and social history at the University of Glasgow and worked for Marks & Spencer and Asda before moving into politics.
While the unmarried MP has never disclosed his sexuality, he has appeared on a list of gay MPs on the website Pink News.
Mr Menzies was first elected as MP for Fylde in 2010 when David Cameron was prime minister.
He quickly took up a position as parliamentary private secretary but his political career was left in tatters when he became embroiled in a sex-for-money scandal.
A 19-year-old Brazilian man called Rogerio dos Santos Pinto told The Sunday Mirror that the MP had paid him for sex and asked him to buy an illegal drug.
He said they met on a gay escort website and claimed the politician had given him a tour of the Houses of Parliament before allegedly offering to pay him £250 for a two-hour session.
Mr Menzies, then 42, resigned as a ministerial aide and said some of the allegations were untrue and claimed he would be 'setting the record straight in due course'. He has not held a ministerial role since, however.
Three years later, the shamed MP was quizzed by cops after being accused of deliberately getting a friend's dog drunk and then starting a fight with them when challenged.
It was reported at the time that the dog needed emergency treatment for 'intoxication' and 'poisoning'. The dog owner claimed to have spent some £500 on vets' bills, The Mirror reported.
Mr Menzies said the allegations were 'false and malicious' at the time and police ultimately dismissed the claims. And a source later denied Mr Menzies' involvement, claiming the dog drunk alcohol that had been left on the grass when the friend fell asleep.
More recently, Mr Menzies is said to have caused a drunken scene at a Last Night of the Proms concert featuring Katherine Jenkins at Lytham Hall last August.
More recently, Mr Menzies is said to have caused a drunken scene at a Last Night of the Proms concert featuring Katherine Jenkins at Lytham Hall last August (pictured)
One patron claimed the MP 'started kicking the chairs and poking the people on the front row' at the £150-a-ticket event (pictured)
The MP, who was invited by the local mayor, is said to have arrived intoxicated before getting into a row with other guests after finding out his seats had not been reserved in the VIP section.
One patron claimed the MP 'started kicking the chairs and poking the people on the front row' at the £150-a-ticket event, the Times reports.
Mr Menzies allegedly had to be spoken to by security because he was so heavily intoxicated. A source close to the MP admitted he had too much to drink but did not intentionally poke anyone.
The Times reports that the Tory party has known about the allegations for three months.
It comes just weeks before the local elections and it remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could face another by-election headache.
