Mark Menzies has introduced he won’t be standing on the subsequent basic election and has resigned from the Conservative Celebration.
The information days after allegations the MP misused Conservative Celebration marketing campaign funds emerged.
Menzies misplaced the Tory whip over the allegations, all of which he has denied.
In an announcement, Menzies mentioned: “It has been an infinite privilege representing the folks of Fylde since 2010, however as a result of pressures on myself and my aged mom, I’ve determined to resign from the Conservative Celebration and won’t stand on the forthcoming basic election.
“This has been a really tough week for me and I request that my household’s privateness is revered.”
The Occasions reported final week that Menzies rang a 78-year-old occasion activist at 3.15am saying he had been locked up.
He mentioned he wanted £5,000 “as a matter of life and loss of life” to pay for his launch.
He’s alleged to have instructed her: “I’ve received in with some dangerous folks and so they’ve received me locked in a flat and so they need £5,000 to launch me.”
The whole sum then climbed to £6,500, and was settled by the MP’s workplace supervisor from her private checking account.
She was reportedly reimbursed with occasion funds from Tory donors.
In an announcement to The Occasions launched final week, Menzies mentioned: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I’ve totally complied with all the principles for declarations.
“As there’s an investigation ongoing, I can’t be commenting additional.”
A Conservative Celebration spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that its investigation had concluded there was not a misuse of occasion funds.
It mentioned the cash in query was signed off by two signatories of Fylde Westminster Group, which is outdoors of the primary occasion’s remit.
But, the spokesperson added: “We do imagine that there was a sample of behaviour that falls under the requirements anticipated of MPs and people taking care of donations to native marketing campaign funds which lie outdoors the direct jurisdiction of the Conservative Celebration.
“We’ll due to this fact be commencing with retraining people throughout the occasion on methods to handle these accounts which fall outdoors of the remit of the Conservative Celebration and are introducing a whistleblowing helpline.”
The spokesperson added that there was a advice that the actions of Menzies might have “breached Nolan principals of public life”.
“That is as a result of nature of the allegations made, but additionally the repetitive nature of those separate allegations. These can be reviewed by the Conservative Celebration’s member governance workforce,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Over the past week, the Conservative Celebration had been criticised for supposedly being conscious of the allegations in opposition to Menzies for 3 months however not taking any direct motion.
Based on PA information company, the Labour Celebration wrote to Lancashire Police final week calling for an investigation into allegations of fraud and misconduct round Menzies.
The Tory Celebration spokesperson mentioned: “We’ll after all share any data with the police in the event that they imagine it could be useful to any investigation they resolve to undertake.
“Recommendations the occasion has not been severely inspecting this matter are demonstrably false as we have now labored to guard the identities of all these concerned while the information might be established.”
As soon as he misplaced the whip, Menzies grew to become the 18th MP to sit down as an impartial within the Home of Commons – eight of whom have been elected as Conservatives in 2019.
He’s now certainly one of 5 former Tories who won’t be standing on the subsequent election.