A Tory MP, who came out as gay recently, Rob Roberts, is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards two junior members of parliamentary staff.
Messages seen by BBC Wales show the MP inviting a 21-year-old female intern to “fool around” with him.
He has also admitted asking out another House of Commons employee, which led them to move position.
Mr Roberts said he recognised the request to the staff member “was inappropriate”.
But he did not provide a comment about the messages sent to the female intern, when asked for a response.
Mr Roberts was elected as the Conservative MP for Delyn in north Wales in December 2019.
The MP, who has recently split from his wife and come out as gay, told the female intern that he “might be gay but I enjoy… fun times”.
The woman, who did not respond to the request, explained to the MP that she was in an “awful state” and was struggling with her mental health, to which Mr Roberts responded: “I was just thinking about fun times… Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you.”
Speaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel “incredibly sick”.
“I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying I’m crying, I’m not okay – and his solution to that was to proposition me,” she said.
“I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything.”
“I kind of felt backed into a corner about everything,” the intern said.
“I was worried about my job first of all, and I was worried about being involved in politics and I felt like I had to respond, but I wasn’t really comfortable responding.”
She said she “didn’t really feel comfortable” returning to Parliament after the messages.
“I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone I was friends with in politics about it because I thought it would affect my career in the future or if I wanted to be more politically involved that I’d be branded by all of this,” she said.
“I couldn’t speak up about it in case my name got implicated or I was blamed for everything.”
She said the experience made her “mental health worse”.
“The culture of politics can be quite toxic when it comes to these things especially when you’re a girl dealing with an MP,” she said.
“It was just horrific.”
