Disgraced former minister Andrew Griffiths who bombarded a barmaid with lewd sex-texts faces being stripped of his safe Tory seat after local party passes no-confidence vote

• Burton MP, 48, lost a vote by local Tories in the Staffordshire town on Friday
• It paves the way for him to be deselected from seat with 10,000 Tory majority
• The married father had bombarded two women with 2,000 messages last year
• He resigned as a business minister and was suspended by the Tory party
• But whip was restored before Theresa May’s December confidence vote

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Disgraced sex-text MP Andrew Griffiths could be stripped of his seat in Parliament after losing a confidence vote by local Tory members.

The Burton and Uttoxeter MP, 48, quit as a business minister last July after it was discovered he sent 2,000 explicit messages to two women weeks after the birth of his first child.

He gave £700 to Imogen Treharne and her friend and even offered to rent out a flat so that they could hook up while demanding they send him something ‘f****** filthy’.

Describing himself as ‘evil’, he outlined degrading sex acts, demanding explicit pictures and videos and said he’d rather be ‘licking naughty girls’ instead of ‘running the country’.

He was suspended by the party but controversially had the whip reinstated just in time to vote for Theresa May in December’s confidence vote in her leadership.

But on Friday East Staffordshire Conservative Association passed a no-confidence motion in him, paving the way to potentially deselect him from the safe Tory seat, Staffordshire Live reported.

Association chairman Conor Wileman told the website: ‘A lot of our members are angry and frustrated about the length of time this whole saga has gone on and they want to see a resolution to it.

‘Last night was the first time the association has made a clear statement from its membership as to how it feels about the situation and there were upwards of 80 members in the room.

‘Numbers fluctuate, but there are around 300 members in total.

‘So it’s a very, very good snapshot of what members think, eight months on from last year’s events.’

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Andrew Griffiths quit as a business minister last year after his sex texts to Imogen Treharne (right) and one of her friends were uncovered

Mr Griffiths told the website that the vote was ‘unconstitutional’.

He said: ‘This was a motion that the chairman was advised by the party was unconstitutional, called with just 24 hours’ notice, that a tiny fraction of members knew about and only a quarter of the association took part in, and has no weight or meaning.

‘Among the incredible support I have had across the constituency, there are some people who don’t quite understand a mental health crisis and that it can affect anyone, even an MP.

‘And of course in any political party there are those who have their own aspirations.

‘However, I will continue to work to win back the trust of all my association members and will be getting on with my job, representing the people of Burton and Uttoxeter.’

Last November Mr Griffiths told the Sunday Times that the saga had left him ‘on the verge of suicide’ and that his actions had been the culmination of decades of mental health problems, sparked by being sexually abused by an older boy when he was aged eight, something he never revealed to his parents.

He told the paper the messages he sent the pair – which included referring to himself as ‘Daddy’ and asking for explicit photos – had ‘reduced me to tears’ when he reread them.

Griffiths, a child of older parents who both died before he was 30, said he had also suffered depression caused by their deaths and later the struggle he and his wife Kate, 47, had to conceive before Alice was born in April.

He then experienced what he said were ‘the flames of anxiety’ when he realised he was the same age as his father was when he was born, and feared his daughter’s life would mirror his own.

On December 12 he was given back the Tory whip yesterday in time for him to vote on confidence in Mrs May’s party leadership.   

Charlie Elphicke was also readmitted despite being under continued police investigation over alleged sexual assault, claims he denies. 

The following day Labour MP Jess Phillips read out violent sexual texts sent by Mr Griffiths to the barmaids as she condemned Theresa May for letting him back into the Conservatives.

Ms Phillips demanded Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom explain: ‘What matters more, political power or protecting victims of sexual harassment?’ 

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