MP claims Tories lied to him over election return

Rob Roberts claims he has been strung along by senior Conservative figures

An MP suspended from the Conservative Party for sexually harassing a member of staff will run as an independent candidate in July’s general election.

Rob Roberts has sat as an independent MP for Delyn since 2021, when he was suspended from his party following a parliamentary investigation.

He claimed he had been in discussions with "senior figures" from the party about running as a Tory candidate in this election, but that they had “strung me along”, and "lied to my face”.

The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.

Mr Roberts will stand in the new seat of Clwyd East, as his current constituency of Delyn will not exist due to boundary changes.

Mr Roberts accused party members of treating him “like a dog in the street then asking for a favour”, saying they had urged him to run as an independent candidate in the Alyn and Deeside seat.

“I will therefore be standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming election, following up on my work over the past four years in championing and assisting my home community,” he said in the post on Facebook.

In 2021, Parliament's independent complaints and grievance scheme found Mr Roberts repeatedly propositioned a former employee and asked him to be less alluring.

Mr Roberts had previously claimed the Conservative Party “abandoned" him when he needed help.

He also said he believed the judgement in his case was wrong, but had not spoken out due to “respect" for the House of Commons.

Current Vale of Clwyd MP James Davies is the Conservative Party’s candidate for Clwyd East in the election.

Other candidates in the constituency are:

• Alec Dauncey - Welsh Liberal Democrats

• Becky Gittins - Welsh Labour

• Lee Lavery - Greens

• Paul Penlington - Plaid Cymru.