An MP accused of sexually assaulting two women at London’s Groucho Club has denied “fist pumping in celebration” after one of the alleged gropes.
Patrick Spencer, 38, is said to have come up behind two women during a night out at the private members club in August 2023 and “cupped” their breasts.
The MP, 38, who was elected for the Conservative Party in 2024 to represent Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, called himself “gregarious” and “huggy” and conceded that his hands touched the breasts of one of the women.
But he insisted that the contact was accidental when aiming for her waist, and he denied touching the breasts of the other woman at all.
CCTV footage from inside the Soho bar at the Groucho shows Spencer raising his arm with an apparently clenched fist after the second alleged sexual assault.
In his police interview, Spencer suggested it could be interpreted as a “boorish” and “laddish” gesture to his friends who were seated nearby.
Prosecutor Polly Dyer suggested to Spencer that it would be seen as “like a fist pump in celebration”, but the MP said he disagreed.
“It’s an interpretation, but it’s not my interpretation,” he said.
In the witness box, he told the jury that his behaviour that night with the women had been “wildly misjudged” and said it was “ultimately inappropriate to hug someone in that way, in that context”.
Asked about the gesture, he argued it happened when the woman had pushed his arms away and he was “embarrassed and surprised”.
He told the court: “It’s embarrassing – someone moving away from you can be interpreted as embarrassing.”
Spencer added: “Something has happened, and I gesticulate a lot of the time anyway. I think that’s what happened.
“My arms have just been thrown down and thrown away.
“I have clearly looked at them [his friends] to see if they have seen this mortifying moment.”
In his police interview, Spencer was shown the CCTV and called his actions a “moment of complete stupidity” before offering an apology to the two women.
In the witness box on Wednesday, he described himself that night as “overfriendly, overzealous, and overenthusiastic”, but insisted he had not tried to “cop a feel”.
Spencer told the court he had drunk red wine with his father, the billionaire Conservative donor Lord Michael Spencer, at lunch that day, before drinking two beers at an England v Wales rugby match at Twickenham.
The politician said he believes he had a further glass of wine with dinner at the Groucho Club, before having two rounds of negroni cocktails.
The two alleged victims told the court Spencer had been “insistent” that they have a drink with him, and one called him a “pest”.
Spencer called it “bizarre behaviour”, and told the court: “I wouldn’t do it. I’m going to say I definitely didn’t do it.”
He also emphatically denied asking one of the women “lurid” questions about her marriage.
Spencer broke down in tears in the dock later in the day when his wife Anna gave evidence, describing him as “kind, gentle, and compassionate” and praising his parenting of their two children.
“He doesn’t always know how to react in the moment, and he doesn’t always read a room perfectly”, she said.
“Patrick is naturally quite awkward, but very intelligent and he has done an amazing job with learning social situations.
“I believe what comes across first to most people are Patrick’s good qualities.
“If you don’t know him, I can understand how some of his behaviour, some of the things he says, and some facial expressions, are a little odd.
“He just sometimes says the wrong thing.”
Ms Spencer called her husband an extrovert and “fun”, and insisted that he has many female friends and she has never seen him behaving inappropriately or sexually.
Spencer, who was suspended as a Conservative after being charged, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault.
The trial continues.
