Orgies, fights and ‘KGB agents' in brothels: Most explosive claims from Tory chief whip's new book
In a book filled with bombshell revelations, former chief whip Simon Hart has recounted the most surreal moments of the ailing Conservative government's final months.
Serialised in The Times, it covers orgies, Matt Hancock's abrupt departure to the I'm a Celebrity... jungle, a Tory MP becoming stuck in a brothel and the various misconduct scandals that engulfed various members of Rishi Sunak's government.
Simon Hart was the Conservative MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2010 to 2024, with his diary covering the final 21 months of Tory leadership before their crushing defeat at the last general election.
Here are the most bizarre takeaways from his book Ungovernable:
Tory MP asks to be rescued from a brothel
Just one month into the job, Mr Hart recalls an MP elected in 2019 called him at 2.45am to report that he was in a brothel with a woman he suspected was a Russian agent.
He recounted the MP telling him: 'I met a woman as I left the Carlton Club who offered me a drink, but I now think she is a KGB agent. She wants £500 and has left me in a room with 12 naked women and a CCTV.'
After discussing with a special adviser, Mr Hart sent him a taxi to return him to his hotel, before receiving a second call at 4.10am that the taxi driver was an 'Afghan agent' who had asked for £3,000 for a sex act.
Sunak appointed a 'f***ing useless' minister
In his diaries, Mr Hart recalled Sunak appointing a minister to his cabinet during a reshuffle despite saying: 'Let's all agree about one thing. She is f***ing useless but we can't get rid of her.'
He also also criticised the minister for failing to appreciate her new role, writing: '(She) is less grateful than her promotion deserves and more entitled than professionals should be when selected by the PM for high office.'
Mr Hart did not disclose the name of the minister but only three women were promoted to the cabinet or given enhanced briefs during the February reshuffle.
Kemi Badenoch, now the Tory leader, was handed business brief on top of her role as international trade secretary, while Michelle Donelan was promoted to become science and technology secretary.
Lucy Frazer was promoted to culture secretary, having previously been housing minister.
Senior married MP makes sexual comment to journalist
In February 2023 while at dinner at the Hurlingham Club, Mr Hart recounts being told that a senior married MP got 'a bit fruity' with journalist and suggested her 'dress would look better discarded on my bedroom floor'.
Boris Johnson asks to 'kill off' Harriet Harman report
Upon informing Boris Johnson that Harriet Harman would be publishing her privileges committee report which would recommend a 20-day suspension, he recalls the former PM asking if there was a way to 'kill off the report or at least vote it down'.
'In any normal circumstances, a former PM asking for special treatment would be a big deal but this being Boris, it doesn't surprise me at all,' he wrote.
'Worryingly, it doesn't even annoy me that much either.'
Upon reminding him that it was he himself who had set up this process and accepted Ms Harman as its chair, Mr Johnson replied: 'But I was in India and I wasn't concentrating. I left it all to the whips.'
Special adviser defecated on someone's head
On Halloween 2023, Mr Hart reported that a special adviser had been to an orgy and that another employee had dressed up as prolific paedophile Jimmy Saville.
'Among today's HR joys is the report that a departmental Spad went to an orgy over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person's head,' he wrote.
'To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile and ended up having sex with a blow-up doll, for which he has been subsequently dismissed. Just another day at the office, I guess.'
Suella Braverman launches 'ghastly' 10-minute rant
Upon her sacking in November 2023, Mr Hart recalled the former home secretary launched a 'ghastly 10-minute diatribe of vindictive and personal bile' while on loudspeaker.
'It's hard to know how to react at moments like this, or where to look. Part of me feels that this is a private call and that we are all eavesdropping, but the other part realises that for the protection of the PM and the government there needs to be a note taken and a record saved,' he wrote.
'So, we sit in astonished silence, doing our best not to grimace, smile or give any indication of what we feel.'
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