Tory MP who sent sexually suggestive messages keeps party whip

The Conservative party have said their MP for Delyn in north Wales will not lose his whip - despite sending sexually suggestive messages to a young intern

The Conservative party said Rob Roberts will remain in the party after being "strongly rebuked" for his behaviour. In text messages obtained by BBC Wales the MP said:  “Don’t ignore me when I’m making you feel better" and went on to say  “fool around with no strings, you might come and visit me in London”. Adding: “I was just thinking about fun times … Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you.” The intern in question told the BBC: “I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying: ‘I’m crying, I’m not OK’, and his solution to that was to proposition me.” It has also emerged that Roberts had to make a separate apology to a parliamentary staffer after asking him out for dinner.

"The investigation into Rob Roberts has concluded," said a Conservative spokeswoman.

"Rob Roberts’s conduct was found to be unacceptable under the party’s code of conduct and he has been strongly rebuked.

“Mr Roberts has apologised for his behaviour and was instructed to undertake safeguarding and social media protection training.”

However, while the Conservative party's internal investigation reached this decision, Roberts is still facing an independent investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards. This comes the month after Boris Johnson pledged his government would do more to address sexual harassment in the aftermath of the killing of Sarah Everard.