Bolton Conservative club held 'gentlemen's evening' with strippers and waitresses

Event prompts fresh outrage in wake of Presidents Club scandal

A Conservative club held a “gentleman’s evening” featuring strippers and waitresses, leading some to compare it to the Presidents Club charity dinner where hostesses were allegedly groped.

A poster for the men only event stated the Horwich Conservative Club, in Bolton, was “proud” to present an evening featuring a “comedian, strippers, waitresses and food”.

The £15-a-head event held in October 2016 was an attempt to boost membership and raise funds. There is no suggestion that the attendees behaved badly towards the hostesses.

However, Liz McInnes, a Labour MP for the nearby constituency of Heywood and Middleton, accused the Tories of being “comfortable” with the event

She added that she had tweeted former Women and Equalities minister Justine Greening about it at the time, but she had failed to respond.

Although the poster featuring the official Conservative Party logo, spokesman claimed that the clubs were “independent of the party”.

A spokesperson for Horwich Conservative Club told The Independent the night also featured a separate ladies party with male strippers.

“There will never, ever be any more strippers here,” they added.

The revelation has regained attention in the wake of The Financial Times’ undercover investigation of an all-male President's Club charity dinner where hostesses were allegedly groped, propositioned and told to wear black underwear.

As a result, it was heavily criticised on social media.

Some drew comparisons with the President's Club black-tie event, which was held at London’s Dorchester Hotel last week and attended by 360 leading figures from the worlds of business, politics and finance.

Auction prizes reportedly included a free lapdance at a Soho club and plastic surgery that could be used to “add spice to your wife”.

The FT reported that by midnight an unnamed “society figure” was telling a hostess “I want you to down that glass [of champagne], rip off your knickers and dance on that table”.

The Presidents Club Charitable Trust has since said it will disband in the wake of the allegations, while “disgusted” charities announced they will return donations received from the event.