A Conservative MP is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards two junior members of staff including inviting a 21-year-old female intern to ‘fool around’ with him.
Delyn MP Rob Roberts reportedly referred to the intern’s ‘picture on Twitter’ when he sent the message and said she had ‘lovely legs’, BBC Wales reports. ‘Don’t ignore me when I’m making you feel better,’ he told her. The MP then went on to say that in future she might want to ‘fool around with no strings, you might come and visit me in London’. Later in the exchange the MP, who has recently split from his wife and come out as gay, told the woman that he ‘might be gay but I enjoy… fun times’.
A mock version of text messages, seen by the BBC, between Rob Roberts and a female intern The woman, who did not respond to the request, explained to the MP that she was in an ‘awful state’ and was struggling with her mental health after he pressed her for a reply. He responded to her message saying: ‘I was just thinking about fun times… Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you.’ Speaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel ‘incredibly sick’. ‘I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying I’m crying, I’m not okay – and his solution to that was to proposition me,’ she said. ‘I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything.’ She said she ‘didn’t really feel comfortable’ returning to Parliament after the messages and was worried she would be blamed if she told anyone. ‘The culture of politics can be quite toxic when it comes to these things especially when you’re a girl dealing with an MP,’ she said. ‘It was just horrific.’
Later in the exchange the MP, who has recently split from his wife and come out as gay, told the female intern that he “might be gay but I enjoy… fun times”.
The woman, who did not respond to the request, explained to the MP that she was in an “awful state” and was struggling with her mental health, to which Mr Roberts responded: “I was just thinking about fun times… Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you.”
Speaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel “incredibly sick”.
“I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying I’m crying, I’m not okay – and his solution to that was to proposition me,” she said.
“I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything.”
Image captionAn excerpt of messages sent by the MP to the intern on 12 April
“I kind of felt backed into a corner about everything,” the intern said.
“I was worried about my job first of all, and I was worried about being involved in politics and I felt like I had to respond, but I wasn’t really comfortable responding.”
She said she “didn’t really feel comfortable” returning to Parliament after the messages.
“I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone I was friends with in politics about it because I thought it would affect my career in the future or if I wanted to be more politically involved that I’d be branded by all of this,” she said.
“I couldn’t speak up about it in case my name got implicated or I was blamed for everything.”
She said the experience made her “mental health worse”.
“The culture of politics can be quite toxic when it comes to these things especially when you’re a girl dealing with an MP,” she said.
“It was just horrific.”
In a separate series of messages also seen by BBC Wales, Mr Roberts admitted asking another member of staff in Parliament out, resulting in them moving positions.
He said he told a male parliamentary staffer “that I liked him and asked him to dinner”.
“Really poor judgement on my part, hands up. He didn’t react very well because it created a problem for him that I felt that way,” he said.
In a further message, Mr Roberts added: “The chief whip was involved, lots of drama.”
In response, Rob Roberts told BBC Wales that earlier this year he invited a parliamentary staff member to dinner.
He said: “My invitation was not accepted and the staff member did not feel comfortable about it.
“I do now recognise that it was inappropriate to have extended the invitation to a member of staff in the first place.
“However, I have found the last few months and the ‘coming out’ process to have been particularly challenging and the cause of a great deal of mental stress to me.
“Creating a story from this interaction which has been dealt with amicably seems calculated to add to that stress, which is distressing.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Our party takes all allegations extremely seriously and has safeguarding and complaints processes in place to investigate complaints made to it under the party’s code of conduct.”
In May, police were called to Roberts’ house to disperse an illegal lockdown birthday party.
Roberts said he was 200 miles away at the time of the party, adding: “My family have been reminded of the guidance set out by the government.”
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
