Robert Joseph Roberts (born 15 October 1979) is a British former politician who was Member of Parliament for Delyn from

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. Elected as a member of the Conservative Party, Roberts had the whip removed in July 2020, following allegations of sexual misconduct, and served as an independent until 2024. Roberts stood for the successor constituency of Clwyd East at the 2024 general election as an independent, but failed to win the seat and lost his deposit.

Early life and education

Roberts grew up in

Northop Hall Northop Hall is a village and Community (Wales), community near Connah's Quay in Flintshire, Wales. Located to the east of Northop, near the A55 road, A55 North Wales Expressway, the village is largely residential in character. At the United Kin ...

, a large village near the town of

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Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

. He attended Ysgol Maes Garmon school in Mold and is a fluent Welsh speaker. Prior to being elected to Parliament, Roberts was a

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, working in the industry since 2003.

Parliamentary career

Roberts defeated the incumbent Labour MP David Hanson at the 2019 general election. Since 2 March 2020, Roberts has been a member of the

Welsh Affairs Select Committee The Welsh Affairs Select Committee (or simply the 'Welsh Affairs Committee') is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and poli ...

and the Procedure Committee.

Sexual misconduct allegations

On 21 July 2020,

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published text messages attributed to Roberts and sent to a female junior member of parliamentary staff in April 2020. The text messages to the staff member suggested that she "fool around with no strings". Roberts told her he "might be gay but I enjoy … fun times". The text messages continued after the intern reported struggling with her mental health. Roberts apologised for his behaviour. Roberts was referred to Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) in 2020 over allegations of misconduct that resulted in one of the interns being transferred to a different department. In April 2021 the Conservative Party announced that Roberts had been "strongly rebuked", but would not lose the whip. Roberts was instructed to undertake safeguarding and social media protection training. Roberts apologised after another incident when he sought to engage in an improper relationship with a member of his staff. Roberts reportedly asked a male parliamentary member of staff out to dinner, which the man said had made him feel uncomfortable. On 25 May 2021 the Independent Expert Panel, after considering the report from the ICGS, recommended that Roberts should be suspended from parliament for six weeks after it found he breached Parliament's sexual misconduct policy. He subsequently lost the Conservative whip and had his membership of the Conservative Party suspended. His six-week parliamentary suspension was confirmed on 27 May, and subsequently Jacob Rees-Mogg and

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both called for his resignation. Not long afterwards, the Communities Secretary,

Robert Jenrick Robert Edward Jenrick (born 9 January 1982) is a British politician who has been Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor since November 2024. He served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Immigration from 2022 to ...

, called for Roberts to resign his seat. After his parliamentary suspension expired, Roberts returned to the Commons in July 2021, amid criticism from both Labour and Conservative sources. He was readmitted to the Conservative Party as a member in October 2021, but was denied membership of the Parliamentary Party and was required to sit as an independent until the end of his term.

2024 general election

He contested and lost the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

as an Independent candidate in the new constituency of Clwyd East, coming last with 599 votes.

Personal life

Roberts announced via a number of Tweets in May 2020 that he is gay. According to ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', he has separated from his wife Alexandra and re-married in December 2023.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Rob 1979 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Welsh gay politicians People from Northop UK MPs 2019–2024 Welsh-speaking politicians Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Sexual harassment in the United Kingdom 21st-century Welsh LGBTQ people