Tory MP at centre of drugs and escort scandal stood for election in Selby

Mark Menzies, 42, dramatically quit his post of Parliamentary Private Secretary just hours before an exposé concerning his alleged relationship with a 19-year-old Brazilian escort was published in today’s Sunday Mirror.

Escort, Rogerio Santos, claimed he was paid for sex by Menzies after meeting the MP through the internet. He told the Sunday paper that the pair had met ‘very regularly’ over the last 18 months, even claiming that he had visited Menzies in his parliamentary office at the Palace of Westminster.

Further allegations by Santos claim Menzies had also asked the escort to procure illegal drugs on his behalf. A series of text messages were shown to the paper that appear to show how the MP enquired about the cost and quality of the party drug ‘Methadrone’.

Methadrone, a Class B drug, was made illegal in the United Kingdom in 2010 after a review by the The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) suggested the synthetic stimulant was ‘likely to be harmful’. 

Santos, a Brazilian national, says he came to London as a student but had overstayed his visa and was living in the country illegally. He has now returned to Brazil where he lives in São Paulo. It is not thought that Menzies knew of Santos’ immigration status.

Though currently MP for Fylde, a constituency in Western Lancashire, Mark Menzies has previously campaigned for election here in Selby.

Menzies failed in his 2005 attempt to be elected to the Selby seat when his challenge was seen off by a wafer-thin margin of just 467, returning Labour's John Grogan to Parliament for a third term.

In a statement to the media, the MP said, “I have decided to resign as a PPS after a series of allegations were made against me in a Sunday newspaper. A number of these allegations are not true and I look forward to setting the record straight in due course.”