Mark Menzies won’t last the week as an MP, Ruth Davidson predicts
Conservative peer Ruth Davidson does not think Mark Menzies will survive the week as an MP.
The ex-Tory MP for Fylde in Lancashire is being investigated by his party over reports in The Times that he misused campaign funds.
Mr Menzies disputes the allegations but the Conservative Party said it is taking them “seriously” and “will always investigate matters put to them”.
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The report alleges that Mr Menzies rang a 78-year-old former staff member at 3.15am last December, saying he was locked in a flat by “bad people” and needed £5,000 as a matter of “life and death”.
The sum, which rose to £6,500, was eventually paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from funds raised from donors in an account named Fylde Westminster Group, the newspaper says.
Speaking to Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ruth – who led the Scottish Conservatives for almost a decade – predicts that Mr Menzies will resign.
She said: “The Tories were supposedly told about this three months ago, and this is the first we’re hearing about it.
“And by reading the story, it looks very much like this lady told her local association, raised the red flag, then told the parliamentary authorities.
“The chief whip then told CCHQ, which is Tory HQ. Nothing’s happened and now she’s quoted in the newspapers.
“So, I mean, it does appear that there’s local association wrath about the way they’ve been treated by this MP. So, you know, I think this is a very difficult one, and I would find it difficult to believe that an investigation can be held and he can be cleared in time to stand a general election.
“In fact, I would be surprised if he survives the week here and doesn’t just resign.”
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Mr Menzies disputes the allegations against him. Pic: UK Parliament
In a statement to The Times, Mr Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
A spokesman for the Tories said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a member of parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.
“The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”
Mr Menzies has stepped down as a government trade envoy, and had the whip removed on Wednesday evening.
Losing the whip means Mr Menzies is no longer a member of the Conservative parliamentary party and will sit as an independent MP, rather than a Tory MP, in the House of Commons.
The party’s chief whip Simon Hart is said to have been made aware of the claims in January, when the former campaign manager reported what had happened.
Sky News understands there has been an investigation ongoing by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) since the allegations were first raised but further information came to light yesterday and Mr Hart acted immediately.
A spokesperson for the chief whip said: “Following a call with the chief whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation.”
A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “We are aware of reports in the media relating to a serving Member of Parliament. No complaint has been made to the police at this stage.
“We will make contact with those impacted in due course to see whether they wish to make a complaint.”
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Jeremy Hunt will promise further tax cuts if the Tories win the next general election and will accuse the Labour Party of not being honest about how it will fund its spending pledges.
The chancellor will give a speech in London on Friday in which he will accuse his shadow, Rachel Reeves, of resorting to “playground politics” with her criticism of the high levels of taxation on UK households.
Mr Hunt will also reiterate his ambition to eradicate the national insurance tax – which the Tories have already slashed twice in a bid to move the polls – where they currently lag 20 points behind Labour.
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Labour has attacked the policy as an unfunded £46bn pledge and likened it to the policies that saw Liz Truss resign from office after just 44 days as prime minister.
The chancellor was previously forced to make clear that his desire to abolish the “unfair” national insurance tax would not happen “any time soon”.
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The chancellor described national insurance as a “tax on work” and said he believed it was “unfair that we tax work twice” when other forms of income are only taxed once.
The overall tax burden is expected to increase over the next five years to around 37% of gross domestic product – close to a post-Second World War high – but Mr Hunt will argue the furlough scheme brought in during the pandemic and the help the government gave households for heating both needed to be paid for.
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“Labour like to criticise tax rises this parliament thinking people don’t know why they have gone up – the furlough scheme, the energy price guarantee and billions of pounds of cost-of-living support, policies Labour themselves supported,” he will say.
“Which is why it is playground politics to use those tax rises to distract debate from the biggest divide in British politics – which is what happens next.
“Conservatives recognise that whilst those tax rises may have been necessary, they should not be permanent. Labour do not.”
James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “There is nothing Jeremy Hunt can say or do to hide that fact that working people are worse off after 14 years of economic failure under the Conservatives.”
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