A Conservative MP is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards two junior members of staff including inviting a 21-year-old female intern to ‘fool around’ with him.
Delyn MP Rob Roberts reportedly referred to the intern’s ‘picture on Twitter’ when he sent the message and said she had ‘lovely legs’, BBC Wales reports.
‘Don’t ignore me when I’m making you feel better,’ he told her. The MP then went on to say that in future she might want to ‘fool around with no strings, you might come and visit me in London’.
Later in the exchange the MP, who has recently split from his wife and come out as gay, told the woman that he ‘might be gay but I enjoy… fun times’.
The woman, who did not respond to the request, explained to the MP that she was in an ‘awful state’ and was struggling with her mental health after he pressed her for a reply.
He responded to her message saying: ‘I was just thinking about fun times… Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you.’
Speaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel ‘incredibly sick’.
‘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,’ she said.
‘I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything.’
She said she ‘didn’t really feel comfortable’ returning to Parliament after the messages and was worried she would be blamed if she told anyone.
‘The culture of politics can be quite toxic when it comes to these things especially when you’re a girl dealing with an MP,’ she said.
‘It was just horrific.’
In another series of messages seen by the BBC, Mr Roberts admitted asking another member of staff out, resulting in him moving positions.
He said he told a male parliamentary staffer ‘that I liked him and asked him to dinner’.
‘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,’ he said.
In a further message, Mr Roberts added: ‘The chief whip was involved, lots of drama.’
Mr Roberts has not responded to allegations about the messages to the intern.
In a statement to the BBC, he said he did invite a member of staff out to dinner.
He added: ‘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.’
Mr Roberts has been contacted for further comment.
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