A Labour MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Dan Norris, a former Labour minister who ousted Jacob Rees-Mogg as MP for North East Somerset at last year’s General Election, was taken into custody after police raided his constituency home on Friday.
They were later seen removing boxes of Mr Norris’s goods from the property.
Mr Norris, who trained with the NSPCC and worked as a teacher and child protection officer, has been suspended from the party pending the investigation.
A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset Police said: ‘In December 2024, we received a referral from another police force relating to alleged non-recent child sex offences having been committed against a girl.
‘Most of the offences are alleged to have occurred in the 2000s, but we’re also investigating an alleged offence of rape from the 2020s.
‘An investigation, led by officers within Operation Bluestone, our dedicated rape and serious sexual assault investigation team, remains ongoing and at an early stage.
‘The victim is being supported and given access to any specialist help or support she needs.
Dan Norris, a former Labour minister, is seen returning to his home following his arrest
Dan Norris, who ousted Jacob Rees-Mogg as the MP for North East Somerset at last year’s General Election , was taken into custody after police raided his constituency home on Friday
Mr Norris, who trained with the NSPCC and worked as a teacher and child protection officer, has been suspended from the party pending the investigation (Pictured: Mr Norris with Sir Keir Starmer in 2021)
Dan Norris (top right), pictured during a meeting of metro mayors with Sir Keir Starmer last May
‘A man, aged in his sixties, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of sexual offences against a girl (under the Sexual Offences Act 1956), rape (under the Sexual Offences Act 2003), child abduction and misconduct in a public office.
‘He’s been released on conditional bail for enquiries to continue. This is an active and sensitive investigation, so we’d respectfully ask people not to speculate on the circumstances so our enquiries can continue unhindered.’
It is the latest headache for Sir Keir Starmer, who would not welcome a by-election in North East Somerset given Mr Norris’s relatively slim majority of 5,319.
Mr Rees-Mogg is understood to entertain hopes of returning to the Commons: he believes he would have held the seat if the Reform Party, which secured 7,424 votes, had not fielded a candidate against him.
He called for a ‘coalition’ with Reform in the run up to the vote.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: ‘Dan Norris MP was immediately suspended by the Labour Party upon being informed of his arrest. We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.’
Profile: Arrested Labour MP Dan Norris
By Ryan Hooper for the Mail On Sunday
Blairite MP Dan Norris has spent much of his adult life in politics, working his way up from local matters to the heart of central Government.
The 65-year-old’s first taste of power was as a Bristol City councillor in the late 1980s and 1990s, as well as a brief stint on the then-Avon County Council.
The Bristol City supporter grew up in the area, and first contested a General Election in 1987 when he stood to be Labour MP for Northavon – but finished third behind Tory grandee John Cope in first, and the Liberal candidate in second.
Then in 1992, he lost the seat of Wansdyke to long-serving Tory incumbent Jack Aspinwall.
But animal-loving Norris was not to be defeated and he finally got the better of the Tory veteran in 1997 as Tony Blair’s New Labour swept to power.
In doing so, Norris marked one of a few red spots on an otherwise traditionally Tory landscape.
He was handed briefs in the Treasury as assistant whip and, in a nod to his largely rural upbringing, as Defra minister.
He held the seat until 2010, when, in another change of Government, the constituency, redrawn by the Boundary Commission, was won by Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg.
With the party booted out of Government – and Norris out of Parliament – he returned to regional politics.
Norris was elected Mayor of the West of England in 2021 – a position he has held alongside being an MP after he defeated his old foe Sir Jacob to win back the seat of North East Somerset and Henham last year.
He is chairman of the board of trustees for the League Against Cruel Sports, and has described himself as a ‘life-long animal welfare advocate’.
The NSPCC-trained former child protection office has also spoken in Parliament about his passion for looking after animals.
Just this week, in an adjournment debate about trail hunting, Norris said it was not a ‘peaceful activity’ but was instead ‘designed to get around the current legislation.’
He prefaced his intervention by noting his role with the League Against Cruel Sports, where his profile on the organisation’s website describes how ‘generations to come will look back at the cruelty we currently inflict and judge it as a stain in history’.
Indeed, the profile adds: ‘I’m a life-long animal welfare advocate and one of my proudest achievements was calling for, and voting through, the hunting ban as an MP under the previous Labour government and later serving as an Environment and Rural Affairs Minister.’
His Register of Interests shows he has received donations from a number of groups and individuals, including £20,000 in June last year from Ecotricity, the green energy firm founded by Dale Vince.
Norris enjoys photography and states his ‘favourite thing to do is go on long walks across the beautiful West of England with my cocker spaniel Angel’.
Indeed the beloved pet features on several of Norris’s social media posts.
