Accused MP Michael Fabricant: 'It was so ridiculous I decided to name myself'
I think it’s rather sad actually that we’ve got to be all monks
A list of Conservative MPs accused of inappropriate behaviour has led to the resignation of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon - and this morning we were joined by Michael Fabricant, who also appears in the dossier, which he calls a 'witch hunt'.
The MP said: "No alleged victim of what I've been accused of has actually come out and it was so ridiculous I decided to name myself in order to talk about this."
Fabricant says he has 'no recollection' of the alleged incident in which a male journalist said he acted inappropriately during a taxi ride.
Speaking on why he 'outed' himself as being on the list he said: “We do need to have reform. We need to protect young vulnerable workers in the House of Commons where there’s an imbalance of power, young people working for an MP. They’re frightened of maybe complaining because it might affect their career. But equally, it’s right, it’s just, to protect other people - MPs included - from unjust allegations. You can’t do this trial by Twitter.
“While on the one hand we need to protect vulnerable people, on the other hand we don’t want to get so politically correct that you daren’t say anything and we’ve all become some sort of robots.”
After Ben Shephard questioned him on recent footage from First Dates Celebrity Special where Fabricant describes sharing a drink with his date as 'sharing saliva', he said: “I say lots of strange things as the government Whips will tell you.”
Pushed on whether he can see why ultimately he might land himself into trouble without realising, he said: “Yeah, absolutely. It’s very easy to do that and I think it’s rather sad actually that we’ve got to be all monks.”
Watch the full interview above
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