A minister who sent more than 2,000 sexually explicit and degrading messages to two barmaids was facing calls to quit as an MP last night.
Andrew Griffiths, whose wife gave birth just 12 weeks ago, resigned as minister for small business after details of the vile texts to Imogen Treharne, 28, were revealed.
The married MP, 47, paid Miss Treharne and her friend £700 to send him nude videos and pictures, telling them he would rather be ‘licking naughty girls’ than ‘running the country’.
He also offered to get a flat so they could meet up, and boasted about beating other women during sex sessions.
Andrew Griffiths, whose wife gave birth just 12 weeks ago, resigned as minister for small business after details of the vile texts to Imogen Treharne, 28, were revealed
The married MP, 47, paid Miss Treharne and her friend £700 to send him nude videos and pictures, telling them he would rather be ‘licking naughty girls’ than ‘running the country’
Mr Griffiths, who helped set up the Women2Win campaign to have more female MPs elected, once tweeted about ‘Labour trolls’ over ‘wanting to ensure women are treated with respect by MPs’
He has been suspended by the Conservative Party pending an investigation over the depraved messages, which were sent just weeks after his wife Kate gave birth to their first child at the age of 47.
The couple had been trying for years to conceive before their ‘miracle’ baby Alice was born in April.
His wife, who regularly attends constituency events at her husband’s side, praised the ‘hands on’ dad in an interview with a local newspaper just a few months ago. ‘Andrew is already a great dad…and hasn’t shied away from the nappy changes.’
Mr Griffiths, who helped set up the Women2Win campaign to have more female MPs elected, took two weeks paternity leave to be with his family.
But just weeks later, while referring to himself as ‘Daddy’, he was asking Miss Treharne to beat her friend for his pleasure. The MP who also campaigned for upskirting to be outlawed, even said in one message: ‘I want to be able to lift your skirts over dinner and show my friends.’
Mr and Mrs Griffiths, who worked at Burton Albion Football Club, married four years ago. She could not be reached for comment last night. There was no answer at their £300,000 converted barn in Burton, Staffordshire, and the curtains were drawn.
In a statement, he said he was ‘deeply ashamed’ of his behaviour which had caused ‘untold distress’ to his wife and ‘deep embarrassment’ to the Prime Minister. He said he would be seeking ‘professional help’ so it did not happen again.
But last night, he was also facing calls from his constituents in Burton and Uttoxeter to stand down. A petition demanding he resign had more than 400 signatures after only a few hours.
In a statement, he said he was ‘deeply ashamed’ of his behaviour which had caused ‘untold distress’ to his wife and ‘deep embarrassment’ to the Prime Minister
Sue Arnold, deputy police and crime commissioner for Staffordshire, said: ‘Andrew Griffiths pays women for X rated images and videos and boasts he has beaten women. I’m ashamed that I’ve sat at a dinner table with such a despicable man who represents the women of East Staffordshire. His wife only had their precious child 12 weeks ago.’
David Child added on Twitter: ‘Our area does not want disgusting individuals like you representing us.’
Local Labour councillor Martin Rawson said it was ‘time for Andrew Griffiths to resign as an MP and let the people of Burton choose someone more suitable’.
Miss Treharne also questioned why he had not resigned as an MP. ‘He’s accepted what he did was wrong, so why is he still clinging on?’ she told the Mirror last night. ‘The only people he hasn’t apologised to is us. Where’s our apology? It just confirms that he still just sees us as pieces of meat.’
Mr Griffiths contacted the women, who he called the ‘t**** twins’, via social media after seeing Miss Treharne’s friend at work while out in his constituency.
They started exchanging messages after he commented on a racy Snapchat video Miss Treharne posted online, in which she was wearing just her bra. He then sent them hundreds of messages over a three-week period.
Many were sent before and after conducting important Parliamentary business. One was sent just 25 minutes after voting against amendments to the Government’s Brexit Bill on June 20.
In one of the messages he wrote: ‘I’m going to need something filthy to put a smile on my face. I want to see you both naked.’
Another said: ‘Take off the bra and panties… you’ve got Daddy in such a frenzy.’ He also told how he had made a woman dress up like a pig, with ‘pig nose, ears, **** pig written across her forehead and a piggy tail’.
When asked if he had many girlfriends, he boasted: ‘I get lots of offers. Power is an aphrodisiac.’ He also offered to buy the two women matching outfits and to take them lingerie shopping.
Mr and Mrs Griffiths, who worked at Burton Albion Football Club, married four years ago. She could not be reached for comment last night. There was no answer at their £300,000 converted barn in Burton, Staffordshire, and the curtains were drawn
And he tried to impress them by boasting of his contacts, telling the women he was thinking about them while drinking champagne with Prince Charles.
In other messages he boasted about having a friendship with opera star Katherine Jenkins and belittled ex-glamour model Katie Price.The MP, who earns around £100,000 a year, arranged the transfer of six payments totalling £717 to an account used by Miss Treharne’s friend, who is also in her twenties but has not been named.
In return, he asked for them to send him images and videos. Miss Treharne admitted sending him explicit photos and videos and accepting his money but said they stopped communicating with him after being put off by his ‘hypocrisy’.
She told the Sunday Mirror he called women a ‘**** toy’ and was ‘vile’. ‘I wanted him to be a nice guy, but by the end I felt dirty. I felt like I was being used for this wealthy man’s gratification,’ she said.
‘Nobody has ever sent me that many texts in the space of three weeks. Nobody I’ve not met in real life. It was draining my battery. It was shocking – I wondered how he was able to send so many messages?
‘How did he have the freedom to do it constantly? It was as soon as he woke up and as soon as he went to bed. He’s an interesting, smart guy and I tried to engage in conversation about his work. But he’d say he found it boring… He didn’t want to speak to me about anything other than sex.’ They cut ties with him on July 6. ‘I cut it off because it was vulgar,’ she said.
‘It was affecting my moods. It affected my self-confidence, how he spoke to me. It was pestering, it was bordering on possessive…
‘He wanted control of everything, and I worried it was going to move into real life.’