Mark Menzies resigns from Conservative party after losing party whip

Mark Menzies has resigned from the Conservative Party after being embroiled in a scandal over alleged misuse of funds.

The former MP for Fylde resigned from the party after he lost the party whip, due to the questions raised over his supposed spending of campaign funds on personal expenses.

The allegations, which were published in The Times, said that Menzies had used political donations to cover medical expenses, as well as paying off "bad people".

For this, Menzies was said to have been locked in a flat by an unknown number of people and made to pay thousands of pounds to allow him to be released.

In a statement, Menzies said: "It has been an enormous privilege representing the people of Fylde since 2010, but due to the pressures on myself and my elderly mother, I have decided to resign from the Conservative Party and will not stand at the forthcoming general election.

"This has been a very difficult week for me and I request that my family's privacy is respected."

Lancashire Police are continuing to look at the evidence brought by the newspaper, which was also submitted in a letter from Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds.

A whistleblower who is at the centre of the case, Menzies' former campaign manager, Katie Fieldhouse, claimed that the party had received legal advice, which revealed the allegations against the MP amounted to fraud

Following his resignation, a spokesperson for the Tories said: "The money in question that was sent to Mark Menzies MP was signed off by the two signatories of Fylde Westminster group.

"This body sits outside of the remit of both the Conservative party and Fylde Conservative Association. Therefore we cannot conclude that there has been a misuse of Conservative party funds.

"However, we do believe that there has been a pattern of behaviour that falls below the standards expected of MPs and individuals looking after donations to local campaign funds which lie outside the direct jurisdiction of the Conservative party."

Following this, Menzies now sits in the MP as an independent representative and will leave Parliament at the next election.

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