People are comparing the Conservative Party’s approach to the new accusations around MP Mark Menzies and its recent campaign against Labour’s Angela Rayner.

The Tories suspended Menzies on Wednesday night, following claims reported in The Times that he had used around £6,500 of campaign funds to pay “bad people”.

Menzies was also accused of using £14,000 of campaign funds to pay for private medical costs.

He “agreed to relinquish the party whip” but has strongly denied all the allegations against him.

The party has since launched an investigation into the claims.

According to The Times, the Conservatives had been aware of this incident for three months but had taken no action.

This report comes less than two weeks after Tory MP William Wragg resigned the party whip amid a “honeytrap scandal”.

This latest incident means Menzies is now the 18th MP sitting as an independent in the Common – eight of whom were elected as Tories in 2019.

Speaking to the media this morning, defence secretary Grant Shapps refused to be drawn on any further details around this issue, reminding viewers that Menzies denies the allegations and that we should remember “fairness and proper justice”.

However, the Tories have not taken the same approach when dealing with members of the opposition.

The Conservative Party has been persistently pursuing a line of attack against Labour’s shadow deputy leader Angela Rayner in recent weeks.

She has been at the centre of controversy over the sale of a former council house she purchased before being elected to parliament.

Rayner has been accused of not paying capital gains tax and of breaking electoral law.

She has vehemently denied these claims, but vowed to quit as Labour deputy leader if the ongoing police investigation finds she has broken the law.

In a statement last week, she said: “I’ve repeatedly said I would welcome the chance to sit down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter.

“I am completely confident I’ve followed the rules at all times.”

But, the Tories are still pursuing this line even after her statement.

Rishi Sunak used the ongoing investigation to criticise Labour in PMQs, suggesting Keir Starmer should spend more time “reading his deputy leader’s tax advice”.

It was the deputy chair of the Conservative party, James Daly, who made the first complaint to the police about Rayner.

Yet, he refused to answer questions about what offence he thinks Rayner has actually committed earlier this week.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Westminster hacks – and others – soon compared the Tory approach to Menzies and Rayner on X (formerly Twitter)…

And other X users went further, uncovering some other recent examples of Tory MPs being in the spotlight over their expenses…