MPs have asked police to investigate if crimes were committed at the men-only Presidents Club dinner, attended by billionaires, politicians and businessmen, at which hired hostesses were allegedly groped and sexually harassed.

At least three MPs are writing to the Metropolitan police following reports that women believed to be sex workers were present at an after-party attended by some of the guests.

Prime minister Theresa May said she was “appalled” – a day after declaring herself “uncomfortable” – while her spokesman said she would examine the use of non-disclosure agreements, which female staff were allegedly made to sign before the event.

Labour peer and fundraiser Lord Mendelsohn is expected to lose his frontbench seat in the House of Lords after Labour sources said they were “deeply concerned” by his presence at the annual dinner.



But families and children minister Nadhim Zahawi looked set to survive being revealed as a guest, despite having been summoned to Downing Street to explain his attendance.

Calls for a police investigation came after an ITV interview with a hostess, who said she was “100% sure” that sex workers were present at an after-party, as dinner guests moved to another room in the exclusive Dorchester hotel.

In a letter to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, the Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, and the party’s deputy leader, Jo Swinson, asked Scotland Yard to open a criminal investigation.



“In particular, offences of harassment and pimping appear to have taken place,” they said.

“Women must be able to have confidence that perpetrators of sexual harassment, abuse and assault will be brought to book.



“It is fundamental to that confidence that all such allegations are taken seriously and investigated immediately. There can be no place in today’s Britain for the behaviour reported, nor for ‘secret societies’ behind which individual perpetrators can hide.”

Jess Phillips, chair of the women’s parliamentary Labour party, is also understood to have contacted the Metropolitan police, while fellow Labour MP Yvette Cooper called for multiple investigations and tougher equality laws.



“Neither the law, nor the enforcement are strong enough – this isn’t good enough,” said Cooper.



“If any law has been broken the full force of the law will come down on those who have broken it. Yet so far there is no sign of a serious investigation into the harassment and exploitation of women staff.”

She called for investigations into the Presidents Club, which has said it will close down, as well as Arista, the agency that supplied the hostesses and took much of its webite offline on Thursday.

“The government needs to make sure there is a proper investigation – if necessary including both the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission] and the police – into these events,” she added.

Cooper also echoed comments from the women and equalities select committee chair, Maria Miller, who has suggested the Equality Act, watered down five years ago, be made tougher.

“If the law isn’t strong enough and if enforcement of it is a joke, then people will carry on getting away with this kind of sleazy exploitation and sexism.



“Time’s up – we need stronger law and stronger enforcement, women shouldn’t have to put up with this any more.”

In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning programme, one woman who said she had worked as a “hostess” at the Presidents Club dinner described the conditions endured by staff.

“The organisers were quite pushy and scary. If you were seen not talking to a man, you would be pushed towards a man and [they would] say: ‘Look at that man over there, he looks lonely – go and talk to him, you’re being paid to do a job.’”

“A lot of hands were up skirts, I saw a lot of grabbing,” she said.



“There were also separate women who came in to the after-party who were wearing red dresses. They were kissing men, quite provocative body language and behaviour towards the men.”

The Presidents Club said on Wednesday it would close down and distribute its remaining funds in the light of the revelations.