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Andrew Bridgen MP quizzed over sex assault claim | |
(40 minutes later) | |
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, the BBC understands. | Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, the BBC understands. |
The married 46-year-old Leicestershire North West MP was arrested in central London in the early hours of Thursday. | |
The backbench MP and former Royal Marine, who entered Parliament last year, is accused of assaulting a 29-year-old woman, the BBC understands. | |
He was not charged and has been released on police bail until the middle of next month, sources said. | |
The Conservative Party declined to comment on the arrest, saying it was a "matter for the police". | |
"He has been bailed to return on a date in mid-July." | |
Police declined to confirm the identity of the arrested man but a spokesman indicated that the address in SW1 - the London postcode which includes Westminster - was not the Houses of Parliament. | |
Mr Bridgen and wife Jacqueline were married in 2000 and have two sons, Alexander and Benjamin. | |
After training as an officer in the Royal Marines, he worked for his family's gardening business and set up a fruit and vegetable firm with his brother in 1988. | |
He won the marginal Leicestershire North West seat back from Labour in 2010 with a swing of nearly 12%, after the retirement and then early death of Labour MP David Taylor. | |
A Eurosceptic, who was active in the Business for Sterling campaign to save the pound, he told MPs in his maiden Commons speech he accepted the description of "little Englander". | |
In the Commons, he is a member of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee. |