Mr Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, said that he had complained to Conservative whips over Dr Poulter's behaviour in 2010, but that his complaint was “met with no interest”.

He wrote: "While I appreciate that speaking out about an MP in my own party will not make me particularly popular and could damage my own career prospects, I have chosen to do so in the hope that it will encourage others, especially those who have been victims of sexual harassment, to come forward.

"I think we have to ask ourselves how we got into a situation where female members of parliament felt that they were in a position because of party loyalties, that they couldn't report inappropriate behaviour."

Dr Poulter has been accused of breaking the Conservative Party's new Code of Conduct, which was published last Friday.

Under the new code, harassment is defined as “any unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive situation or environment for them”.