UNITED KINGDOM
Senior Tories have defended the Conservative Party’s decision not to suspend an MP arrested on suspicion of rape.
The accused MP, a former minister, was arrested and taken to an east London police station on Saturday morning before being released on bail later that day.
The Metropolitan Police said the allegations of sexual offences and assault related to four separate incidents which are said to have taken place between July 2019 and January 2020.
The man, in his 50s, has been accused by a young woman who used to work in parliament, Sky News understands.
At the weekend, the Conservatives were criticised for deciding not to immediately withdraw the party whip from the accused MP.
An MP who has the whip withdrawn is effectively expelled from their party, but keeps their seat in the House of Commons.
They must sit as an independent until they have the whip restored.
![2018 Sports Review [1]: Winners, losers and questions facing African football](http://skynewsafrica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/caf1-100x70.jpg "2018 Sports Review: Winners, losers and questions facing African football")
