A former Conservative MP who quit politics after allegations of sexual misconduct and drug taking has been found dead aged 59.
David Warburton, who represented the Somerton and Frome constituency until June 2023, was found dead at the west London flat last week.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: “Police were called by the London ambulance service at 10.47am on Tuesday 26 August.
“A man in his 50s was found dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed. His death is being treated as unexpected but not suspicious.”
Warburton announced that he was resigning his safe seat two years ago, having been suspended by his party in April 2022 pending the outcome of an independent complaints and grievance scheme investigation into allegations of harassment and drug use. His resignation led to a byelection, which the Lib Dems won.
Warburton admitted taking cocaine after drinking “incredibly potent” Japanese whisky, but denied harassment and claimed he was denied a fair hearing over claims that he made unwanted advances to two women.
In July 2023, the House of Commons said the investigation against him “will no longer be proceeding”. Warburton said he was overjoyed but that it had been “extraordinarily difficult for my family and myself, with the personal toll being incalculable”.
Warburton became MP for the Somerset constituency in 2015, securing the country’s biggest swing to the Tories. He won again in 2019 with a majority of more than 19,000.
He said he had “got a bit obsessed” with using a home gym during the first Covid lockdown, and won plaudits from then health secretary, Matt Hancock, for his newfound fitness fanaticism.
Multiple Tory MPs told the Guardian in 2022 that upon his return to Westminster, his reinvention seemed like a “mid-life crisis”, though when the allegations about his behaviour emerged, colleagues said they were shocked.
The former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who was suspended from the party in 2015 after sending inappropriate messages to a 17-year-old girl, said on X: “Sad to see that David Warburton, former Conservative MP, has died. Cleared by parliament of any wrongdoing, but like most of us wasn’t flawless, he’d just had enough and resigned. With him a few times recently, he was doing really well. God bless him.”
