Conservative MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault allegedly carried out at London’s Groucho Membership.
The costs comply with two alleged incidents involving two completely different ladies on the personal members’ membership in Soho in August 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) mentioned.
Spencer – who’s the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich – is because of seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Court docket on Monday 16 June.
The 37-year-old’s legal professionals mentioned he “categorically denies” the costs and “will defend the allegations robustly in court”.
A Conservative Occasion spokesman mentioned Spencer has been suspended by the Tories and had the whip withdrawn.
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The Groucho Membership in Soho, London. Pic: PA
The Metropolitan Police mentioned he was charged after attending a voluntary interview at a London police station on 13 March this yr.
“The costs comply with two alleged incidents involving two separate ladies on the Groucho Membership in central London in August 2023.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“This can be very necessary that there ought to be no reporting, commentary or sharing of data on-line which might in any manner prejudice these proceedings.”
Spencer was first elected to Parliament final yr with a majority of 4,290.
It’s understood he was requested to not attend the parliamentary property by the Tory chief whip whereas police enquiries had been ongoing.
A Conservative Occasion spokesman mentioned: “The Conservative Party believes in integrity and high standards. We have taken immediate action.
“Patrick Spencer MP has been suspended from the Conservative Occasion, and the whip withdrawn, with speedy impact.
“The Conservative Party cannot comment further on an ongoing legal case.”
The Groucho Membership, in Dean Avenue, opened in 1985 and have become a famend assembly place for A-list celebrities and others, together with actors, comedians and media executives.
The membership was named after the comic and actor Groucho Marx, who reportedly as soon as mentioned he would refuse to affix any membership that will have him as a member.
It was initially arrange as a extra relaxed different to conventional gents’s golf equipment, in line with the venue’s web site, which provides that members ought to be within the inventive business “and share the club’s maverick spirit”.
Earlier than turning into an MP, Spencer labored in finance for personal fairness agency IPGL, an organization chaired by his father, former Conservative Occasion treasurer Lord Michael Spencer.
He later took a job on the Centre for Social Justice thinktank earlier than turning into a senior adviser on the Division for Training.
He made his maiden speech within the Commons in July final yr throughout a debate on the MPs’ code of conduct referring to second jobs, throughout which he mentioned the “most important thing to the people across my constituency” was “restoring a sense of moral probity and public spiritedness to our political system”.
Legal professionals appearing for the MP mentioned in an announcement: “Patrick Spencer categorically denies the charges.
“He has cooperated absolutely with the police investigation from the second he turned conscious of it and he’ll defend the allegations robustly in courtroom.
“Given that the proceedings are now on foot, no further comment will be made.”
