Scottish MP Mark Menzies has resigned from the Tory party – but who is he?

SUSPENDED MP Mark Menzies has resigned from the Conservative party amid allegations he misused campaign funds to pay off “bad people”.

The Ayrshire-born MP disputes claims he used £14,000 of campaign funds to pay off individuals who demanded the money for cleaning expenses, as well as private medical bills.

A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said Menzies had “agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation”, meaning he will now sit as an independent MP.

That investigation has concluded, with the party saying Menzie's conduct "fell below standard", and Menzie announcing that he will not stand as an MP at the next election.

Who is Mark Menzies?

Menzies, who grew up in Ardrossan in Ayrshire, was elected as a Conservative MP for Fylde, Lancashire, in 2010.

He attended the University of Glasgow, where he was president of the Conservative Association in 1994.

He first stood for election in the then Labour safe seat of Glasgow Govan all the way back in 2001, but came fourth.

Since 2010 Menzies has since been re-elected three times.

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Menzies is a member of the Scottish Affairs Committee, which is currently holding an enquiry into the success of the City Region and Growth Deals, which aims to boost the local economy of six locations across Scotland by securing funding from both Westminster and Holyrood.

He previously resigned from the position of parliamentary private secretary to Alan Duncan – then the international development minister – in 2014 after a report in the Sunday Mirror that Menzies had paid a Brazilian male escort for sex and asked him to supply drugs.

He was opposed to Brexit prior to the EU referendum, and has voted consistently in favour of the Government's controversial Rwanda Bill, which aims to deport migrants from the UK to Rwanda as a form of deterrence.