Commons secretary Caroline Edmondson told The Mail on Sunday that International Trade Minister Mark Garnier (pictured) called her ‘sugar t*ts’ in front of witnesses
Trade Minister Mark Garnier escaped with his job tonight after an inquiry into him asking a secretary to buy a sex toy ended with him ordered to apologise.
Mr Garnier accepted the claims were true when they were first made in late October but insisted they were taken out of context.
A marathon inquiry into his conduct finally ended today, leaving the minister reprimanded but still in post.
Mr Garnier has written to former secretary Caroline Edmondson apologising for his actions following the end of the Cabinet Office inquiry.
Ms Edmondson told the Mail on Sunday that International the wealthy ex-banker called her ‘sugar t*ts’ in front of witnesses.
She said he gave her cash to buy two vibrators at a sex shop in Soho – and stood outside the store while she bought them.
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after Theresa May fired her de facto deputy Damian Green for a similar probe. Both investigations were launched at the height of a harassment scandal that swept Westminster.
A No 10 spokesman said the investigation had primarily considered Mr Garnier’s behaviour as a minister. The incidents themselves occured before he was appointed.
Mrs May has been assured Mr Garnier has not broken the ministerial code since being appointed and considers the matter closed with an apology, Downing Street said.
The spokesman said: ‘The Cabinet Office concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that Mr Garnier’s conduct as a Minister since 2016 had breached the expected standards of behaviour.
‘The Prime Minister’s view is therefore that Mr Garnier did not break the Ministerial Code while holding government office.
‘The Cabinet Office also took evidence in relation to an incident that happened before Mr Garnier was a Minister, between Mr Garnier and a member of his parliamentary and constituency staff.
‘The Cabinet Office concluded that there was no dispute about the facts of the incident, but there was a significant difference of interpretation between the parties, and that the member of staff in Mr Garnier’s office was distressed by what had occurred.
‘It was not his intention to cause distress, and Mr Garnier has apologised unreservedly to the individual. On that basis the Prime Minister considers that a line should be drawn under the issue.’
Ms Edmondson taunted the MP earlier this week, sending a Christmas card with her partner, Sky News’s Jon Craig, featuring her holding icing sugar up to her chest.
He is stirring a bowl of kitchen mix above the caption: ‘Let’s cause a stir this Christmas.’
In the cheeky Christmas card snap, Caroline Edmondson pokes fun at the International Trade Minister who called her ‘sugar t**s’ by holding up a box of icing sugar to her chest with the caption ‘let’s cause a stir this Christmas’
Ms Edmondson, pictured, said wealthy ex-banker Mr Garnier told her that one of the sex toys was for his wife, also called Caroline
Mr Garnier allegedly told her that one of the sex toys was for his wife, also called Caroline, while the other was for a female assistant in his Wyre Forest constituency office in the West Midlands.
He has not denied the claims. After they first emerged, he told his local newspaper The Kidderminster Shuttle they had been taken ‘outside the context and circumstances in which they occurred’.
The Wyre Forest MP said: ‘The events of 2010 concerning myself and a former member of staff have been reported outside the context and circumstances in which they occurred.
‘At the time we were friends, and I want to be clear that I did not force or pressure her into doing anything.
‘It is right that the public expect high standards of behaviour from their elected representatives, and I apologise to my constituents that this situation has occurred.’
Theresa May (pictured today on a visit to Poland) has let Mr Garnier off with a reprimand following more than six weeks of investigations