Andrew Griffiths was made minister despite 'touching' allegations

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/17/andrew-griffiths-made-minister-despite-touching-allegations

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Andrew Griffiths, the government minister forced to resign over sexually explicit text messages sent to two constituents, was appointed to his post despite being under investigation for allegations of inappropriate touching and bullying, the Guardian has learned.

Griffiths was accused by a Conservative borough councillor of being “very forward” after he allegedly touched her knee and clutched her waist at a fundraising ball in September 2016. He has also faced a number of bullying complaints.

The new revelations follow the 47-year-old’s resignation from his post as minister for small business at the weekend after it emerged he had sent sexually explicit demands in 2,000 text messages to two female constituents more than 20 years his junior.

The councillor, Deneice Florence-Jukes, said she had been “completely humiliated and bullied” over several months by the MP in a written complaint to Conservative campaign headquarters in November last year.

Her allegations were initially sent to Andrea Leadsom, leader of the Commons, then referred to the party’s sexual harassment hotline, which was launched during the Westminster misconduct scandal last October.

On Tuesday evening, after the Guardian first reported the allegations, Leadsom said she agreed there were “questions” to be answered over Griffiths’ appointment.

While the allegations were sent to her, she said the responsibility for looking into them rested with Theresa May’s office. Asked by the BBC’s Newsnight programme if she had warned the prime minister about appointing Griffiths, Leadsom said: “No, as a matter of fact, the process was carried out by the leader’s office on the grounds that it wasn’t a matter for parliament, it was a matter for the party processes. So it’s not something that I was closely involved with at all.”

The Guardian has learned that Griffiths, formerly Theresa May’s chief of staff, has faced bullying complaints from Tory colleagues including his former election campaign manager, John Wheatley, and the leader of East Staffordshire borough council, Richard Grosvenor. One alleged victim said that his “extreme bullying” had continued for “many years”.

The investigation into Florence-Jukes’s allegations had not been concluded when Griffiths was appointed minister for small business on 10 January.

The inquiry was dismissed in February after Griffiths claimed it was “implausible” that he would touch a female colleague’s knee in a room full of people. The MP admitted putting his arm around Florence-Jukes’s waist but denied it was inappropriate because, he said, she was tall and her husband had his hand over her back so “the only other option” was to clutch her waist.

The complaint and his subsequent appointment as a minister will raise questions about the Conservative party’s handling of misconduct allegations and increase the pressure on Griffiths to resign as MP for Burton in Staffordshire in addition to his resignation as a minister.

Grosvenor, the leader of the Tory-run East Staffordshire borough council, on Tuesday became the most senior member of Griffiths’ local party to call for him to consider his position after he told the Guardian that he had been the victim of “extreme bullying for many years” by the MP.

Grosvenor said he had complained to the party hierarchy about Griffiths but that no action had been taken. “I deplore bullying and aggression of any description against anyone,” he said.

“As this relates to the current situation facing Andrew I, and many colleagues and residents, find it difficult to understand how he can now carry out his role as an MP interacting with constituents following his unacceptable behaviour and he needs to seriously consider resigning.”

Wheatley, a Conservative party activist who was Griffiths’ campaign manager for the 2017 election, said he had complained to the chairman of East Staffordshire Conservatives about the MP.

Wheatley said he was verbally abused and shouted at on several occasions by the “playground bully”, who he said made “sexual comments” about female colleagues and lewd remarks about the size of women’s breasts and was “generally an unpleasant person to be around”.

In a WhatsApp group conversation on election night last June, Wheatley shared a sample of voter results to which Griffiths replied: “John, that’s just bollocks. It’s idiot information.”

Wheatley said he had left the East Staffordshire Conservatives largely “due to the fact that I could not be associated with Andrew Griffiths”. “I don’t think the Conservative party needs someone like Andrew. I don’t think Burton needs someone like Andrew. I don’t think the country needs someone like Andrew. What he’s done is completely unacceptable,” he said.

Florence-Jukes, a former military police officer who sits as an independent councillor on East Staffordshire borough council, resigned her party membership in February in protest at the handling of her case.

In her written complaint to the party, Florence-Jukes said she first met Griffiths at a fundraising ball at Uttoxeter race course on 17 September 2016. She described how he came over to her table and she told him that she aspired to become an MP.

“[Griffiths] said he was aware of this and at this point put his hand on my right knee and told me he was going to help me as he had been instrumental in setting up Women2Win with the prime minister, Theresa May,” she said.

“His hand was on my knee for a few seconds, then he removed it. I felt [Griffiths] was being very forward by touching me. My guests even commented on what they had witnessed.”

She added: “[Griffiths] is far too familiar with regards to inappropriate touching. I feel it crosses boundaries by him touching my knee, holding me around the waist and what I term lingering holds when in close proximity to him. For instance, if [Griffiths] leant in for a greeting kiss it would always involved a hold around the waist as well.

“It got to the point where I would specifically keep a distance and bend forwards so I was out of his reach.”

Her complaint also covered claims of bullying.

Griffiths has not responded to the latest allegations but said he was “deeply ashamed” of the text messages that prompted his resignation as a minister. He apologised for the “deep embarrassment” caused to the prime minister, his constituency association and the people of Burton.

He said: “I do not seek to excuse my behaviour and will be seeking professional help to ensure it never happens again. In time I hope to earn the forgiveness of all those who put their trust in me and that I have let down so terribly.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “Our code of conduct is a robust process that ensures any official complaint made is investigated in full by an independent panel. The panel came to a clear decision and no further action was taken.”