The Westminster sexual harassment scandal escalated dramatically on Friday night when the Conservative Party passed “serious allegations” about one of its MPs to the police.

Charlie Elphicke, a former party whip, was immediately suspended by the party, which offered no details about the allegations.

The 46-year-old, who is married with two children, denied wrongdoing and said the party had not even made him aware of what was being alleged.

According to reports on Friday night, the Conservative whips received an allegation about Mr Elphicke shortly after Theresa May became Prime Minister, but the woman who made the complaint did not want to involve the police.

Mrs May is likely to face questions about why the party has only now referred the matter to police if whips were aware of the allegations more than a year ago.