The Tories are still coming under fire for failing to suspend the unnamed MP who was arrested at the weekend on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. A group of charities and trade unions are the latest to criticise the decision, saying in a statement released yesterday that ‘we are still not confident that [Parliament] is a safe and equal place for women to work’. The group wants Parliament to suspend the MP, and for the whip to be removed while the police investigate the allegations. But while the Tories insist they take all such allegations extremely seriously, they also say the matter is currently in the hands of the police and they will make a decision about the whip once the police decide whether or not to charge the suspect.
The question of whether to suspend the whip is not in fact as important as the other questions swirling around the Conservative whips themselves.
