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Conservative MP Crispin Blunt says he has been arrested on suspicion of rape and possession of controlled substances.

In a statement on X, the Reigate MP said: “It has been reported that an MP was arrested yesterday in connection with an allegation of rape.

“I am confirming that MP was me. The fact of the arrest requires a formal notification of the Speaker and then my chief whip.

“I have now been interviewed twice in connection with this incident, the first time three weeks ago, when I initially reported my concern over extortion. The second time was earlier this morning under caution following arrest.

“The arrest was unnecessary as I remain ready to co-operate fully with the investigation that I am confident will end without charge.”

He added: “I do not intend to say anything further on this matter until the police have completed their inquiries.”

Surrey Police said a man was detained on Wednesday morning in Horley.

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A police spokesman said: “We can confirm a man was arrested yesterday morning (October 25) in Horley on suspicion of rape and possession of controlled substances.

“He has been released on conditional police bail pending further inquiries.”

The Conservative Party said it would not comment as there is a live police investigation.

But Mr Blunt has had the whip suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation, and has been asked to stay away from the parliamentary estate.

Mr Blunt announced in May 2022 that he would be standing down at the next election

The latest allegations will be a further blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, coming just a week after the Tories suffered two by-election defeats in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth.

The by-election in Tamworth saw Labour overturn a 20,000 majority to take the seat in Staffordshire, which has been held by the Tories since 2010.

The constituency was left vacant by former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, who quit parliament in disgrace after losing his appeal against a suspension from the Commons following groping allegations.

The Labour Party also took Mid Bedfordshire from the Conservatives in a bitter battle with the Lib Dems.

The contest for Mid Bedfordshire kicked off after the resignation of former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who resigned in anger at being denied a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list – but did not officially vacate her seat for 81 days.

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Bank of Canada just says no to retail CBDC in reshuffling of priorities

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Bank of Canada just says no to retail CBDC in reshuffling of priorities

Regulating and speeding up payments without a CBDC are more important to the Canadian central bank.

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SEC approves options for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF

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<div>SEC approves options for BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF</div>

The SEC notice seemed to be an industry first after the commission approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on US exchanges in January.

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Farage: It’s possible I could become PM

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Farage: It's possible I could become PM

Nigel Farage has spoken about his aspirations as Reform UK party leader and insists he could become prime minister.

He told Sky’s political correspondent Darren McCaffrey the prospect of taking over at Number 10 at some point “may not be probable, but it’s certainly possible”.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Reform UK annual conference in Birmingham, he also described his intention to change the party and make it more democratic.

“I don’t want it to be a one man party. Look, this is not a presidential system. If it was, I might think differently about it. But no, it’s not. We have to be far more broadly based,” he said.

He also accepted there were issues with how the party was perceived by some during the general election.

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Highlights of Farage’s conference speech

“We had a problem,” he admitted. “Those that wished us harm use the racist word. And we had candidates who genuinely were.”

Earlier the party leader and Clacton MP gave his keynote speech at the conference, explaining how they intend to win even more seats at the next general election.

He also called out the prime minister for accepting free gifts and mocked the candidates in the Tory leadership race.

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Farage jokes about PM accepting gifts

But he turned to more serious points, too – promising that Reform UK will “be vetting candidates rigorously at all levels” in future.

Addressing crowds in Birmingham, Mr Farage said the party has not got “time” or “room” for “a few extremists to wreck the work of a party that now has 80,000 members”.

Farage says Reform UK needs to ‘grow up’

By Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent in Birmingham

Reform and Nigel Farage can hardly believe their success.

Perhaps unsurprising, given they received over four million votes and now have five MPs.

But today this is a party that claims it has bigger ambitions – that it’s fighting for power.

Having taken millions of votes from the Conservatives, the party thinks it can do so with Labour voters too.

Reform finished second in 98 constituencies, 89 of them are Labour seats.

But it is a big ask, not least of all because it is a party still dominated by its controversial leader and primarily by one majority issue – migration.

Nigel Farage says the party needs to grow up and professionalise if it has a chance of further success.

This is undoubtedly true but if Reform is going to carry on celebrating, they know it also has to broaden its policy appeal beyond the overwhelming concern of its members.

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“The infant that Reform UK was has been growing up,” he said in his speech and pointed towards the success of the Liberal Democrats at the general election.

He told delegates his party has to “model ourselves on the Liberal Democrats” which secured 72 seats on a smaller popular vote share than Reform UK.

He said: “The Liberal Democrats put literature and leaflets through doors repeatedly in their target areas, and despite the fact they haven’t got any policies at all. In fact, the whole thing’s really rather vacuous, isn’t it? But they manage with a vote much lower than ours to win 72 seats in parliament.”

Reform won more than four million votes in July, and 14% of the vote share – more than the Lib Dems.

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