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Suspended MP: ‘I do not know what I’m accused of’

Suspended Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke says he still doe..

Suspended Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke says he still does not know what he has been accused of.

The Dover and Deal MP had the party whip withdrawn last Friday over "serious allegations" which have been referred to the police, his party said.

Now, in a statement posted on his website almost a week later, Mr Elphicke, 46, told his local Conservative Association he is still in the dark.

The backbencher, who sits on the Commons Treasury Select Committee, said: "So what then is my explanation for what I am accused of? I cannot give one. Because I do not know what I am accused of."

In the statement, addressed to the Dover and Deal Conservative Association, he said received a call shortly after 9pm last Friday, from a journalist saying he had heard Mr Elphicke was to be suspended in time for the 10 O'Clock news.

The former government whip under David Cameron said he had "absolutely no idea" why, and that he then received a call from Chief Whip Julian Smith saying "serious allegations" had been made against him which had been passed to the police.

Mr Elphicke, who has been MP for Dover and Deal since 2010, added: "I asked what the allegations were and he would not tell me.

"He only said that he and the Prime Minister had decided the whip should be suspended from me. As we spoke, the news spread across the national media.

"And that is all I can tell you. Since then I have had no further information. And here we are.

"So, extraordinary as it may seem, I am no wiser now than I was on Friday evening when the Chief Whip called me."

Image:Carl Sargeant is understood to have taken his own life

The Tory MP's blog post comes in the same week as the family of former Welsh government minister Carl Sargeant said he had not been informed of details surrounding groping allegations made against him.

Mr Sargeant was found dead on Tuesday.

Until last week, when he was removed from his role and suspended by Labour, the married father of two had been Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in the Welsh Government.

Mr Elphicke has called his own situation "a denial of justice" which "undermines our values as a country".

"We believe in the rule of law. We believe in the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. We believe in natural justice," he said.

"Whatever it turns out I stand accused of, I deny any criminal wrongdoing."

Mr Elphicke said he wanted to thank "the entire Conservative family and the many well wishers who are not Conservative supporters who have got in touch in the past week".

Sky News has contacted the Conservative Party for a comment.

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