Tory MP Julian Knight’s call for return of whip rejected after ‘further complaints’
Scotland Yard confirmed their probe into serious sexual assault allegation is over – but further complaints made to the whips’ office
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Your support makes all the difference.The Conservatives will not return the whip to Julian Knight due to “further complaints”, after police dropped an investigation into a serious sexual assault allegation against the MP.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed their probe is over after the senior Tory said he had been cleared.
Mr Knight – who was suspended from Tories over the claim – always denied the allegation and on Wednesday demanded the “immediate” return of the party whip.
But a spokeswoman for Tory chief whip Simon Hart said: “Following further complaints made to the whips’ office, we will not be restoring the whip to Julian Knight.”
They added: “These complaints, if appropriate, will be referred to the relevant police force, or appropriate bodies.”
Responding to Mr Hart, Mr Knight said: “This statement from the chief whip smacks of desperate attempt (sic) to cover up the identities and motives of those in parliament who colluded for many months to bring the false allegation against me to the police.
“The police have confirmed today that there is no evidence to support that allegation and closed their investigation. They did not even need to interview me to do so.
“Yet the Whips Office now seems intent on continuing a witch hunt against me in an attempt to prevent my naming names.”
In a strongly worded statement earlier on Wednesday, Mr Knight had hit out at both Scotland Yard and the response of his own party – promising to “use every legal route available to pursue those inside and outside parliament” involved in the allegation.
“The fact is that there was never anything for the police to investigate,” the MP said. “This was a single, false and malicious allegation initially brought to them by third parties, each of whom had their own clear motives for doing so.”
He said the Tory whips’ office had “acted disgracefully and in breach of natural justice by removing my anonymity”. Their actions meant my name was dragged through the mud and my good reputation immeasurably damaged.
He added: “The conduct of one person in the whips’ office, and the language used towards me, was particularly egregious. Had the police taken the simple step at the outset of interviewing me under caution, they would have seen that the allegation was false and scandalous.
“Instead, they waited four months, without ever talking to me, before deciding there was nothing for them to investigate. I have been left effectively to prove my innocence through my public statements and letters to the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the chief whip. That cannot be right.”
Scotland Yard received an allegation of serious sexual assault last 28 October, and on 7 December a further referral relating to the incident was made and an investigation into Mr Knight was launched.
On Tuesday the force said: “Police are no longer proceeding with an investigation. There have been no arrests.”
The Solihull MP, who has represented the constituency since 2015, is chairman of the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Former cabinet minister Damian Green is currently acting chairman.
Mr Knight last month complained to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley about the handling of the allegation, saying the investigation was “flawed and fundamentally unjust”. He has been contacted for comment.