THE Scottish Tory MP accused of drunkenly groping other men in a Commons bar may avoid an official investigation into his conduct on a technicality, it has emerged.
Ross Thomson, 31, who has described claims against him as “completely false”, was last week reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
It followed police being called to a report of “sexual touching” around 11pm on February 5 in the Strangers’ Bar at Westminster, where Mr Thomson had been drinking.
Officers said they spoke to three men in their 20s and 30s, but there were no formal allegation made and no one was arrested.
One eyewitness told the Herald Mr Thomson had been “paralytically drunk”, while another said they saw the Brexiter MP groping the crotch of a man in his mid to late 20s.
A researcher who had been in the bar that night later filed a complaint with Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone, whose remit includes investigating “complaints from the parliamentary community about harassment, bullying or sexual harassment by MPs”.
However it was reported the complaint has fallen foul of the rule that the Commissioner cannot “accept for inquiry an allegation… made on behalf of another person”.
The Times newspaper said three sources had told it that the complaint had already been dismissed.
Mr Thomson and a source close to the complainer said they had not been informed of any such dismissal.
It is also unclear whether any other complaints about Mr Thomson’s behaviour are still being considered by the Commissioner.
Mr Thomson, who returned to the Commons on Monday after initially lying low, has also referred himself to the Tory party’s own disciplinary panel for an investigation.
Mr Thomson, a former MSP who became an MP in the 2017 election, said last week: “A series of allegations have been made against me that have featured in the media. I would like to state that these allegations from anonymous sources are completely false.”
Last night he added: “I have not been contacted by the commissioner at any point. My focus is 100% on getting on with the job of serving my constituents in Aberdeen South.”
The Commissioner does not comment on whether she has received a complaint, nor comment when an investigation is underway.
It was also reported this week that the Westminster authorities had been asked to release CCTV footage from the bar on the evening in question.
The political website Guido Fawkes, which first reported the allegations against Mr Thomson, said one of those in the pub had asked under the General Data Protection Regulations.
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