Police to review claims Tory MP Mark Menzies allegedly misused £14,000 of party funds

Release time：2024-05-21 11:40:19 Source：Culture Compass news portal

Lancashire Police have said they will review claims that Tory MP Mark Menzies allegedly misused thousands of pounds of campaign funds to pay off 'bad people' who locked him in a flat.

The Fylde MP has been suspended from the party whip and dropped as one of the PM's trade envoys.

Mr Menzies disputes the allegations and the Tory Party has said it is looking into the claims and takes them seriously. 

Now, in a statement on Friday evening, a Lancashire Police spokesperson has said: 'We can confirm that we have now received a letter detailing concerns around this matter and we are in the process of reviewing the available information in more detail.'

After a speech in London this morning, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dodged when asked whether Mr Menzies should stand down from the Commons. 

MP Mark Menzies (pictured) had the whip suspended and was axed as a trade envoy over the extraordinary allegations

In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said it 'remains to be seen' whether police will investigate

'It's right that Mark Menzies has resigned the Conservative whip,' he replied.

'He's been suspended from his position as a trade envoy whilst the investigations into those allegations continue.

'For our part I can't comment on our ongoing investigation while it's happening, and he's no longer a Conservative MP, as I said.'

Earlier, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said it 'remains to be seen' whether police will investigate. 

Mr Stride told Sky News: 'That remains to be seen. The fact the Labour Party have written to the police is maybe a fact, but it doesn't mean the police are investigating – but let's see where that goes.

'But the important point that I'm making is that we are investigating that, and so Conservative HQ is looking now very closely into the circumstances around the various reports that have been made, and the whip has been removed from Mark Menzies in the meantime.'

Mr Menzies is said to have 'angrily' called an elderly former mayoress at 3.15am one day last December demanding that she release £5,000 from a local campaign account as a 'matter of life and death' because he had been locked in a flat.

Local party stalwart Katie Fieldhouse, 78, refused, but another party worker reportedly cashed in an Isa to cover the payment, later being reimbursed from money raised by local donors

Separately, a further £14,000 given for use on Tory campaign activities was also allegedly transferred to Mr Menzies' personal bank accounts and used to pay private medical expenses. 

Sources close to the MP - who disputes the allegations - said he offered to repay the 'ransom' money but was told he did not need to. 

The 78-year-woman allegedly awoken at 3.15am by Mr Menzies demanding money because he had been locked up by 'bad people' is Katie Fieldhouse (pictured)

Shirley Green (left) bailed out Mark Menzies (centre) by giving him the cash. They are pictured with councillor Karen Harrison at St Annes Charity Carnival in July last year

Last night, one of those who nominated Mr Menzies at the last election joined Keir Starmer in calling for a police investigation. Mr Menzies denies any wrongdoing.

Tory activist Caroline Sheppard, who seconded Mr Menzies' nomination in 2019, said: 'I think he is disgusting as an individual and for what he put a 78-year-old woman through.

'There should be a police investigation. This was not his money. It belongs to his constituents.'

Sir Keir said: 'There are obviously a lot of unanswered questions in relation to these allegations, not least why it seems the Conservative Party took so long to act and whether they've reported this to the police, who, it seems to me, should be involved in this.'

Ms Fieldhouse said yesterday that she had given a full account of last December's alleged incident to Chief Whip Simon Hart the following month.

But she felt let down that the Conservative Party had taken no action against him until the allegations were made public on Wednesday, she told the Daily Mail at her home in the seaside resort of Lytham St Annes.

Asked whether the Tories had treated her allegations sufficiently seriously, she replied: 'It was three and a half months ago – you can draw your own conclusions.' 

Mark Menzies pictured with Micky and Minnie Mouse at the St Anne's Carnival in his local Lancashire constituency last year

Ms Fieldhouse, who was mayoress in 2001, added: 'I'm a devout Christian and a very devout Conservative and this has distressed me deeply. I live in a beautiful place and it deserves better.'

A senior member of the local Conservative Association said he was 'furious' with the way the MP treated Ms Fieldhouse.

'What happened beggars belief,' he said. 'I wouldn't dream of ringing anyone at that time in the morning.' He said Ms Fieldhouse – a former campaign manager for Mr Menzies – had been left feeling the party was 'sweeping it under the carpet'.

Another senior Fylde Tory, who did not want to be named, said: 'I will not stand by and see a lady who's given 40 years to the party being besmirched by someone trying to save their own skin.'

Last night Lancashire Police said while they had not yet received any requests to become involved, officers would 'make contact with those impacted in due course to see whether they wish to make a complaint'.

Labour Party chairman Anneliese Dodds has also written to her Tory counterpart, Richard Holden, to say the allegations raise 'extremely serious questions relating to potential criminality'.

A source close to Mr Menzies told the Times, which first reported the allegations, that the unmarried MP had met a man on an online dating website and gone to a flat, before subsequently going to a second address where he continued drinking.

The source said it was falsely claimed that he had been sick, with money demanded for cleaning up and other purposes.

He decided to pay them because he was scared of what would happen otherwise, but did not have the funds from his own savings, the source said.

After Ms Fieldhouse said she could not help, his office manager Shirley Green is said to have sent him £6,500 later that day, later being reimbursed from local party funds.

Mrs Green is a Conservative Mayoress in Menzies' Lancashire constituency who apparently found herself awoken early the following morning by Ms Fieldhouse who was concerned after her early hours call from Mr Menzies. 

A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart (pictured) said Mr Menzies has agreed to give up the Tory whip pending an investigation

Last night, one of those who nominated Mr Menzies at the last election joined Sir Keir Starmer in calling for a police investigation

Ms Fieldhouse was calling Mrs Green because she herself had just been rung hours earlier by their local MP apparently in great distress about what might happen to him if he didn't come up with the money immediately.

Mrs Green, who is currently Mayor of genteel St Anne's on the Sea, down the coast from Blackpool, and her term will come to an end next month.

She has served on the Town Council since 2019 and has taken a full role in local civic life, and is a governor of a local primary school and trustee of a Boys and Girls club. 

Recently, she was photographed with Mr Menzies at the St Anne's Carnival, alongside her neighbour Mayor of Fylde Borough Council and volunteers dressed up as Disney characters.

The local newspaper wryly captioned it a 'magical moment as Mark met Micky, Minnie and the Mayors.'

When the allegations were made public on Wednesday, Mr Menzies had the Tory whip removed as well as losing his role as a trade envoy.

The Lancashire seat has been in Conservative hands for decades, with Mr Menzies, who was first elected in 2010, enjoying a majority of more than 16,000.

At his flat in the constituency, a woman said she did not know the politician's whereabouts yesterday.

But in a statement to the Times, the Ayrshire-born MP 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.'

The Conservative Party confirmed that 'allegations' were being investigated but added that the matter was 'rightfully confidential'. 

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