The deputy prime minister has denied that allegations against Conservative MPs were covered up during his time as chair of the party.
But Oliver Dowden also said he could not “say for certain” that the Tory party did not pay an alleged victim’s private hospital fees.
And he urged anyone with concerns to take them to the police.
The Conservative Party is facing claims a former party chair wrote to police over concerns allegations of rape against an MP were not properly handled. Sir Jake Berry also said one alleged victim was receiving support paid for by the Conservative Party, according to a letter published in The Mail on Sunday.
Challenged about the suggestion of a cover-up, Mr Dowden, who resigned as party chair last year, said: “I don’t recognise in any form the idea that we covered up. And I can assure you categorically that it was not the case that when I was chairman of the Conservative Party that I covered up any allegations.”
The allegations were “very serious” and the party took them “exceptionally seriously”, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. Anyone with concerns should “take them to the police”, he added..
He later told GB News that he “can’t say for certain” that the Conservative Party did not pay an alleged victim’s private hospital bills.
And asked about reported payments to an alleged victim, he told Times Radio: “I’m not denying that it could be the case that those payments were made, but it’s not something that I authorised or part of as chairman of the Conservative party.”
The allegations around the MP, who has not been named, come as the paper publishes extracts from Nadine Dorries’ book claiming there was a plot to oust Boris Johnson from Downing Street.
The extracts also claim that:
• An MP had sex with a prostitute on a billiard table watched by four other MPs, who were cheering
• Another MP was holding a laptop containing indecent images of children on behalf of a relative
• The Tory Whips’ office has a video of a minister engaged in an adulterous sexual act
• The security camera which caught former health secretary Matt Hancock kissing an aide in his office was allegedly tampered with
• Sources claimed Sonia Khan, an ex- adviser to then Chancellor Sajid Javid, had to call police ‘a number of times’ after she was ‘stalked’ and ‘filmed’ after launching legal action against the Treasury over her sacking
Sir Jake, who was party chair during Liz Truss’s premiership last autumn, is reported to have written the letter to police, with former chief whip Wendy Morton, shortly after leaving the job in October 2022.
The paper reports that the letter reads: “There may have been five victims of X – who have been subject to a range of offences including multiple rapes.”
The letter also said that the matter had been going on for more than two years and adds: “The failure of others to act has enabled X to continue to offend”.
“This is not something we are prepared to see continue and collectively we have therefore raised the issue with both you and the Speaker’s Office in the House of Commons seeking an immediate police investigation.’
The newspaper also reported that it had seen a report by two investigators which warned that the case had been handled so poorly that the party itself could find itself criminally liable.
In recent months the Conservatives have faced a raft of allegations of misbehaviour and sexual misconduct against the party’s MPs.
The newspaper said the Conservative Party had declined to comment.