the times | Friday July 31 2020 2GM 7
News
Charlie Elphicke, the former Tory MP,
has been found guilty of sexually
assaulting two women in the first con-
viction of its kind in a generation.
He was found guilty of attacking a
woman who worked for him and a
parliamentary worker. Prosecutors
said that his offending was “an abuse of
power” and his wife, Natalie, declared
their marriage was over on social media
moments later.
Elphicke, 49, who was warned he
faced jail, assaulted his first victim in
2007, kissing her, groping her breast
and chasing her around his Belgravia
townhouse singing “I’m a naughty
Tory” while smacking her bottom.
He was elected three years later and
attacked the second woman in 2016 in
Westminster.
He is believed to be the first MP to be
convicted of a sexual assault since 1962,
when Sir Ian Horobin was sent to
prison after admitting ten charges of
indecent assault on boys under 16.
The conviction raises questions for
the Conservative Party, which sus-
pended him when the allegations first
surfaced, only to restore the whip so
that he could take part in a confidence
vote on Theresa May’s leadership while
he was under investigation by the
police.
Pressure will also mount on Mrs
Elphicke, who succeeded him as MP in
his Dover seat when he stood down at
the December general election. The
four-week trial heard how the finance
lawyer had pored over the evidence
with him during the lockdown, which
the prosecution said was when he
decided to change his defence.
He had admitted he had “kissed” the
woman in 2007, describing it as “the
biggest mistake of my life” which he
regretted deeply. He then said he had
gone on to have an affair with another
woman eight years later while “besot-
ted” with the parliamentary worker he
sexually assaulted.
Mrs Elphicke said after the verdicts:
“Today’s verdict is one that brings pro-
found sorrow. It ends my 25-year mar-
riage to the only man I have ever loved.”
When Julian Smith, then the chief
whip, suspended him from the party in
November 2017, Elphicke claimed he
was “not aware of what the alleged
claims are”, with Mrs Elphicke repeat-
ing his position in an article for The
Sunday Times.
The jury at Southwark crown court
heard, however, that he had already
been questioned about the allegations
that year in a meeting with Mr Smith
and Anne Milton, then deputy chief
whip, after the second victim raised
them, in January 2017. In a subsequent
meeting about a week later, he was
accompanied by Dominic Grieve, the
former attorney-general, claiming in
court it was as his legal representation.
A source said the decision to restore
the whip came after “sustained pres-
sure” from the 1922 Committee of
Conservative backbenchers.
The parliamentary staffer, who was
in her early twenties, told the court that
she had felt “groomed” by Elphicke,
who took her for coffees and lunches,
and offered to take her shoe shopping.
It was her “dream job”, she said, and she
feared she would never work in parlia-
ment again were she to come forward
about what he had done.
The allegations were investigated by
police after publication in November
2017 of the so-called dirty dossier of
Conservative MPs accused of sexual
misconduct. His first victim described
how in 2007 he had invited her for a
drink while Mrs Elphicke was away for
work, and began talking about “silk and
leather, and about bondage”. He tried to
kiss her, pushed her down by her
shoulders on to the sofa, put his knee
between her legs and groped her breast,
she said.
After she “pushed him off”, he pur-
sued her, “saying really bizarre things,
saying things like ‘I’m a naughty
Tory’... like sing-song, ‘ooh, I’m a
naughty Tory, I’m a naughty Tory’.” Sheescaped by barricading herself in her
room. After reports of his appearance
in the dossier, she said she felt “very
very relieved” and called police.
Natalie Dawson, specialist prosecu-
tor for the Crown Prosecution Service,
said: “Charles Elphicke abused his
power and influence over these women
to make unwanted and forceful sexual
advances towards them. I hope theseconvictions today give other victims
the confidence to report sexual abuse,
no matter how powerful their abuser.”
Sentence was deferred by Mrs Justice
Whipple until September for back-
ground reports.
A Conservative Party spokesman
said: “Sexual assault is completely
unacceptable, and we extend our sym-
pathies to the victims.”Profile Charlie Elphicke
C
harlie Elphicke
was an
“accomplished
liar” who pored
over the
evidence before his trial
with his legally trained
wife and changed his
defence after realising
that his falsehoods to
police could be disproved,
prosecutors said as he
stood sobbing in the
witness box (Fariha
Karim writes).
He was described in
court by his second
victim as “a complete and
utter bully”, flitting
“between personalities, in
a Jekyll and Hyde way”.
She said that when he
would do something he
was not supposed to he
would say, “I’m sonaughty, I’m so
badly behaved,”
almost like he
was in a
pantomime.
He was born Brett
Charles Anthony
Elphicke in March 1971 in
Huntingdon,
Cambridgeshire, to
Geoffrey Elphicke, a
Harley Street dentist, and
Mary-Jo Wormell, a Mills
& Boon author and
former Tory candidate.
He attended the fee-
paying Felsted School in
Essex and the Cambridge
Centre for Sixth Form
Studies then studied law
at Nottingham University.
He worked as a tax
lawyer and as a
consultant for the Centre
for Policy Studies, a right-wing think tank. He was
elected as a Tory
councillor in the London
borough of Lambeth in
1994 but stood down in
1998 to become chairman
of the Dulwich and West
Norwood Conservative
Association. In 2001, the
year his wife, Natalie, a
finance lawyer, gave birth
to the first of their two
children, he stood as a
Tory candidate for
St Albans but lost to the
Labour incumbent. In
2006 Priti Patel, now
home secretary, beat himto the candidacy for
Witham. The next year
he was selected to stand
in Dover. He was elected
in 2010 and re-elected in
2015, when he became a
whip, and 2017. As an MP,
he voted Remain in 2016,
despite sitting in a Brexit-
leaning seat, when David
Cameron led an officially
pro-EU party. Under
Boris Johnson, he said:
“We’re ready for a no-
deal in Dover, so let’s call
a halt on begging for an
Article 50 extension.”‘Naughty Tory’ guilty of sex assaults
Fariha Karim, Eleni Courea
Esther Webber
GEORGE CRACKNELL WRIGHT/LNPOut of order
Fiona Onasanya
The Labour MP for Peterborough’s
political career ended after she lied
to police about a speeding offence.
She was jailed last year for 28 days
and was the first MP to be ousted
by her constituents via a recall
petition.Eric Joyce
The former Labour MP for Falkirk
admitted this month to making an
indecent image of a child. He is set
to be sentenced next month.Chris Huhne
The Liberal Democrat MP for
Eastleigh and former cabinet
minister was jailed for eight months
in 2013 for perverting the course of
justice by asking his wife to accept
his speeding points.Lord Watson of Invergowrie
The ex-MSP served eight months for
drunkenly setting alight a hotel
curtain in 2004. He was expelled by
Labour but has been readmitted.Sir Ian Horobin
The war hero and MP was jailed for
four years in 1962 for sex with boys.Jonathan Aitken
The former Tory minister served
seven months for perjury and
perverting the course of justice.
Saudi royal aides paid his hotel bill
but he swore under oath that his
wife had paid it.ett
O
F
Charlie Elphicke
arrived at court
yesterday with his
wife Natalie, an MP.
After the verdict she
tweeted that their
marriage was overProfile Natalie Elphicke
H
aving accompanied
her husband hand in
hand to Southwark
crown court, Natalie
Elphicke took less
than an hour after the guilty
verdict to state on Twitter that
the marriage was over (Fariha
Karim and Eleni Courea write).
Charlie Elphicke, 49, had wept
in court as he described how she
had “supported me through all of
this”. He then described how he
had kissed one woman who
accused him of sexual assault,
had an affair with another not
related to the trial and been
“besotted” by a third who also
accused him of sexual assault.
However, it was the verdict, Mrs
Elphicke, also 49, said, that
brought “profound sorrow”. She
wrote: “It ends my 25-year
marriage to the only man I have
ever loved.”
After Elphicke was suspended
by the party in November 2017
she had declared in an article in
his defence in The Sunday Times
that he was being targeted by
kangaroo courts. When he stood
down before the December
general election, Mrs Elphicke, a
finance lawyer who worked as
chief executive at the Housing &
Finance Institute, replaced him.
Sources have claimed that she
was “keeping his seat warm”
should he escape conviction.
Mrs Elphicke’s website says
that she grew up in a council
house and moved to east Kent as
a teenager. She was educated at a
Kent grammar school and went
to the University of Kent. She was
appointed OBE for services to
housing in 2015. In her work as
an MP she has been outspoken
about Brexit and stopping illegal
Channel crossings.