Defence secretary Ben Wallace has been accused of an abuse of power after it emerged he wrote to Labour and the SNP claiming MPs were drunk on an overseas trip.
The allegations first appeared in The Telegraph, which obtained the letter and was briefed by an unnamed defence source.
But an opposition party has hit back, saying Conservative MPs involved in the delegation to Gibraltar were also drinking.
They were part of a group of 15 MPs who flew from Heathrow on Tuesday for an Armistice Day visit to British forces.
It was alleged Scottish MPs Drew Hendry and David Linden and Labour’s Charlotte Nichols had been drinking heavily and were rude to staff on the flight out to Gibraltar.
Mr Hendry and Mr Linden both strongly denied the allegations insisting they were able to play a full part in events the next day.
Ms Nichols is understood to have told The Sun newspaper that medication which she had been taking had ‘affected my tolerance’ for alcohol.
The SNP has accused the defence secretary of deploying smear tactics in an attempt to divert attention away from a sleaze scandal engulfing the Tory party.
Their attack came after reports emerged two Conservative MPs on the trip were also drinking.
Conservative sources did not deny their MPs, Ben Everitt and Christian Wakeford, had been out for a drink when approached by the Press Association but rejected claims they had turned up with hangovers for events the following day.
A party source said that it was a ‘desperate attempt’ to deflect attention from the behaviour of the opposition members on the flight.
The SNP described the row as ‘silly political point scoring’ and a ‘botched attempt to divert media attention from the Tory sleaze scandal’
Labour has not commented on the reports and Metro has contacted the two named Tory MPs.
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