General Election 2019: Tory accused of groping Labour MP in bar to stand down

A Conservative politician has announced he will not seek re-election after being accused of groping a Labour MP in a bar in Westminster.

Ross Thomson, who represented Aberdeen South, said he had made "the most difficult decision that I could ever make" and stand down as candidate for the Scottish seat.

It comes after Labour MP Paul Sweeney spoke out about the alleged incident because he feared no action will be taken before the General Election.

Mr Thomson called the allegations "entirely false" and said they were made "for the purpose of political point-scoring".

A spokesman for Mr Sweeney, who is the MP for Glasgow North East, said with the election coming up next month, he thought it was "important that voters in Thomson's constituency should be aware of his behaviour".

Mr Sweeney told the Scottish Mail On Sunday that Mr Thomson grabbed at him in the Strangers' Bar in October 2018. He claims the Aberdeen South MP tried to put his hands down his trousers.

Recounting the experience, he told the paper: "I felt paralysed. It was just such a shocking thing. I was in a cold sweat, it was mortifying.

"In the back of my mind, I was thinking that if I just punched the guy, who knows where that could end up when there's a bar full of journalists. I couldn't fight, so I took flight.

"I sat on this for ages because I didn't want to make a fuss out of it. But when I go into the chamber and he's there doing a speech, it's still there - that intimidation. He knows, and I know, what went on there."

Mr Thomson said he has given an account of events on the night to Westminster's standards watchdog, as he insisted he was a "fit and proper person to be an MP".

Releasing a statement on Twitter, Mr Thomson said: "I categorically denied the same allegations when they were first made back in March and I continue to do so.

"Mr Sweeney is weaponising an extremely serious issue and showing contempt for the people and processes that have been put in place to help deal with genuine bullying and harassment cases."

In a follow-up statement he said: "Serving as the MP for Aberdeen South has been the absolute privilege of my life.

"This has been without a doubt the hardest decision of my life. I remain confident that the ongoing parliamentary standards process will find in my favour and these baseless claims will be shown up for what they are."

He also said the experience of the allegations had been "traumatic" and impacted his physical and mental health, as well as brought "untold levels of abuse".

A spokesman for Mr Sweeney said: "This assault, which took place last October, was reported to the appropriate authorities after similar but entirely separate allegations were made by other men against Ross Thomson in February.

"In light of the failure of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to resolve this matter before the General Election, Mr Sweeney feels it is important that voters in Thomson's constituency should be aware of his behaviour as their representative at Westminster."

In February, Mr Thomson referred himself to the Conservative Party's disciplinary panel of the code of conduct after allegations of sexual touching were made against him.

At that time he said: "I would like to state these allegations from anonymous sources are completely false. No complaint has been made to the police, parliament or Conservative Party."

The Met Police had attended Strangers' Bar but no arrests were made. The party said it would investigate.