UK Edition
Revealed: Nine Tory MPs on the so called 'sex dossier' - with some included for already known relationships
A Tory Minister and an MP have been accused of paying women to be silent in a so-called 'dirty dossier' being shared by party staff, as the full list of claims against Tory MPs is laid bare.
The Minister is said to have asked a woman to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and the MP is alleged to have "paid a female to be quiet".
It comes amid a growing sexual harassment scandal at Westminster, with some 40 Conservative MPs being named in the 'dossier'. In the list obtained by The Telegraph, seven Cabinet ministers, eight former ministers and 15 other members of the Government are named.
Of the MPs named in the list, 25 are alleged to have behaved inappropriately. However the other 15 MPs are named over consensual relationships or personal sexual preferences, with no suggestion of harassment.
They include Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, who is named because of a "workplace relationship" with her boyfriend Kwasi Kwarteng, the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor Philip Hammond. Both are single and have never denied they are dating.
Jake Berry, a minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government, was named on the list because he "impregnated Alice Robinson", who is Boris Johnson's office manager, even though they are a couple who live together and posed for pictures for their local newspaper when their son was born.
Justin Tomlinson is on the list because he dates his researcher Katherine Bennett, which he has never denied.
Others, such as Mark Menzies MP, are named over past reports which are in the public domain. Mr Menzies resigned as a ministerial aide in 2014 over claims he paid a male escort for sex.
Theresa May is under pressure from her own MPs to launch a “comprehensive” investigation into sexual harassment after it emerged that two female members of a minister’s staff moved to other jobs because of his “inappropriate” behaviour.
The minister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is alleged to have made an advance towards one of the women and made improper comments towards the other.
The disclosure comes after a Telegraph investigation separately uncovered a series of allegations of MPs abusing or bullying staff, amid wider concern about the treatment and welfare of employees in Westminster.
Theresa May has already launched a Cabinet Office inquiry after the international trade minister Mark Garnier admitted asking his secretary to buy sex toys for him, and has now been urged to get a grip of the scandal engulfing Westminster by widening the inquiry to include allegations against other ministers.
Mr Garnier is among the MPs named in the dossier, as is Stephen Crabb, who apologised for sending explicit text messages to a teenager he interviewed for a job.
Steve Double, who allegedly had an affair with a married female researcher, Robert Halfon, who admitted to an affair in 2015, are also on the list.
Grant Shapps, the former Conservative Party chairman, is named over allegations of an affair that he blamed on a "vicious" smear campaign earlier this year.
Allegations of sexual harassment are by no means confined to the Conservatives. Labour has already suspended newly-elected Jared O’Mara over a series of inappropriate comments about women, and the SNP announced it was investigating complaints against two party members.
Fresh allegations of harassment emerged on Monday during a debate in Parliament about the problem. The Plaid Cymru MP Liz Savile Roberts said an MP’s employee reported being sexually assaulted earlier this year but the “proper authorities...did nothing”.
Other female MPs told their own stories of being sexually harassed, including the Labour MP Rupa Huq, who said she had been groped by a male MEP when she was in her 20s.
The Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has been named as the Cabinet minister who put his hand on the knee of a radio presenter at a dinner 15 years ago.
Sir Michael admitted the incident had taken place and said he had apologised to broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer for his behaviour at the time. Downing Street said Sir Michael would not face an investigation because there had been no complaint made about his behaviour.
Miss Hartley-Brewer, the talkRADIO presenter, has written in the past about the incident, saying she threatened to punch the MP in the nose if he did it again, and has always refused to name the man in question, saying they remain friends.
She said she did not regard it as "anything other but mildly amusing".
A spokesman for Sir Michael said that he had apologised when the incident happened and that both he and the journalist now considered the matter closed.