MP investigated after ‘girl’s drink was spiked with a date-rape drug in notorious Commons bar’
An MP is being investigated over an allegation that a woman’s drink was spiked with a date-rape drug in an infamous Commons bar, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Strangers’ Bar, which serves drinks to MPs and their guests on the terrace overlooking the Thames, has been shut while security and safety arrangements are reviewed after the allegation was made to the Metropolitan Police.
The Parliamentary researcher who said she had been spiked recognised the alleged perpetrator’s lanyard as that of an MP – but did not see his name or party affiliation.
She alerted bar staff and security to the incident on January 7, the second day of Parliament after the festive break.
It is the latest in a series of incidents in the bar, which has been at the centre of a debate over the sale of alcohol in the Palace of Westminster.
Parliament’s official complaints authority, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, said the drinking culture in Westminster was a ‘frequent factor’ fuelling inappropriate behaviour such as sexual harassment.
Strangers’ Bar, which serves drinks to MPs and their guests on the terrace overlooking the Thames, has been shut while security and safety arrangements are reviewed after the allegation was made to the Metropolitan Police. Picture: MPs enjoying drinks on the terrace in October 2022
The Parliamentary researcher who said she had been spiked recognised the alleged perpetrator’s lanyard as that of an MP – but did not see his name or party affiliation. Picture: Stock image
The Government has vowed to crack down on spiking as part of wider efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.
This newspaper reported last year that before the general election, Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, had asked Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to shut the bars because she feared the disciplinary implications of hordes of new-entry Labour MPs becoming sucked into Westminster’s drinking culture.
Downing Street said Sir Keir found the reported spiking ‘incredibly concerning’.
A Parliament spokesman said: ‘We are aware of an incident which took place on the parliamentary estate in early January, which was reported to parliamentary security and is now being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.’
Of the closure of Strangers’ Bar they added: ‘The safety of everyone on the estate remains a key priority of both Houses.’
Scotland Yard said it had ‘received reports of an alleged spiking at an establishment in the House of Commons. The investigation is ongoing and the victim is being supported by officers. There have been no arrests at this time.’
