'Bottom slapping' MP in Commons tearoom
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An alleged 'bottom slapping' incident in the Commons tearoom has left a Tory grandee in further disgrace.
Sir Nicholas Winterton, 71, renowned for fiddling expenses, has been accused of slapping the bottom of a female Labour MP as they queued for lunch.
It is reported Natascha Engel, MP for North East Derbyshire, told colleagues about the incident when she returned to her seat. One such colleague, Kerry McCarthy, tweeted the incident and wrote on her blog: "Shocking behaviour by two Tory grandees in the Members tearoom yesterday. One was seen to waltz in there, grab a slice of meat from the buffet with his bare hands, stuff it into his mouth and waltz off again.
"Another - a knight of the realm no less! - slapped a shocked female Labour MP firmly on her bottom in full view of other members."
Sir Nicholas is due to stand down from parliament at the next election, along with his wife, fellow Tory MP Ann Winterton.
The Daily Mail quote Sir Nicholas as saying in response to the alleged incident: "I have a friendly relationship with most members of the House, male and female.
"Can I remember this incident? No. Can I categorically deny it? No.
"I'm quite a normal person. Will I slap a colleague on the back, will I slap a colleague in friendship? The answer is - it's certainly possible. I certainly don't deny it and I certainly can't recall it. Perhaps, if these things were quite normal, you don't remember them."
He added: "My God, Parliament must be stooping if this sort of incident is reported. I don't use blogs or Twitter," and asked if he often slaps bottoms, Sir Nicholas replied: "I don't make a habit of it."
It is reported Ms Engel said the incident was "not the end of the world".
Outspoken Tory MP Nadine Dorries has since waged Twitter war with Ms McCarthy, tweeting this morning: "The Mirror are desperate. The thought that Sir Nick would slap anyones bottom is just ridiculous, and if he did, it wldnt be a Labour bum.
"Time for me to start tweeting outrageous stuff Labour MPs have really done and said... Here goes with the first one. A Scottish Labour MP
"Walkd up to me in the cloakroom and said 'You were in my dreams all night.. Would you like to know what you were doing' I refused.. He wlked
"Out of the room with me and insisted from 2 paces behind in telling me, disgusting me. You want to trade tales @kerrymp, be my guest.
"I'll tweet my next outrageous Labour MP story this afternoon, its a text message. Difference with mine is they are true."
In response Ms McCarthy tweeted: "@NadineDorriesMP Sorry, just realised it was part of a chain of tweets. The Sir Nicholas incident was 100% true."