Call for whip to be removed from Bridgend MP Jamie Wallis

A candidate in the Labour leadership contest wants Boris Johnson to kick one of his new Welsh MPs out of the Conservative party in Parliament.

Jess Phillips has started a petition calling on the prime minister to withdraw the whip from the Tory MP for Bridgend, Jamie Wallis.

He was the director of several firms which have been the subject of hundreds of complaints to Bridgend trading standards.

Mr Wallis has been asked to comment.

On Saturday the Conservative Party said it could not make a comment at this time.

He won Bridgend for the Tories from Labour in last month's election.

It has emerged that one of the companies, Quickie Divorce Ltd, which trades under the title clean-break.co.uk, advertised on its website a separate business called Sugar-Daddy.net.

This business offered people introductions to wealthy individuals, saying: "We can introduce you to your very own sugar daddy and solve your money worries.

"Whether you're a boy, girl, straight or gay, there's a sugar daddy for you."

Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, has now launched a petition calling on the prime minister to withdraw the whip from Mr Wallis.

Her petition says: "Let's be clear: sugar daddy is a euphemism for something deeply ugly: exploitation of women by powerful men.

"The Tories should feel ashamed sitting alongside Jamie Wallis. The only way to show they don't condone this kind of behaviour is to remove the whip."

Ms Phillips, a well known women's rights campaigner, is one of the Labour MPs hoping to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.

Labour's Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi backed Ms Phillips' call to remove the whip from Mr Wallis.

She said she was "really concerned" about Mr Wallis and added that "his track record is very dubious".

"I'm concerned the Conservatives are not doing a simple Google search to have a look to see what their candidates are like," she said.

"Jamie Wallis has been known to the Tory party, he has stood as a candidate in Ogmore previously and I think people like him should not be members of parliament."

Mr Wallis resigned his directorships of a number of companies including Quickie Divorce Ltd, a short time after December's general election.

According to Companies House, he remains a person with significant control of the company, owning voting rights of 75% or more.

Mr Wallis and the Conservative Party have been approached for a response.

Mr Wallis told BuzzFeed: "Online queries indicate the sugar-daddy.net website was registered in 2004 and ceased to be operational in 2010.

"The site appears to have been owned and operated by a company named SD Billing Services Limited. For the avoidance of any doubt, I have never had a financial interest, nor been a director of SD Billing services Limited and cannot comment on its operational activities."

Mr Wallis has also rejected the information provided about complaints to Bridgend trading standards relating to the companies where he was director.

He has rejected them as "nonsense" and says his former businesses are considering legal action against the local authority.