FORMER Brecon and Radnorshire MP Chris Davies allegedly hit his fist against a filling cabinet and shouted at a staff member he "came into politics to make money, not lose it."

The claim was made at employment tribunal where Mr Davies’ former office manager Sarah Lewis is claiming she was forced from her job after blowing the whistle on faked expenses claims that eventually cost the Conservative MP his seat.

Giving evidence, at the hearing in Cardiff today, Welsh Conservative official Jane Pratt, who is a party candidate in next week’s General Election, told how Ms Lewis had confided in her she feared there was a "campaign against me in particular by Chris and his team in Builth."

Mrs Pratt was questioned about the statement she had given to the tribunal by counsel Irvine Mccabe for Mr Davies about claims made by Ms Lewis in October and November 2017. She had uncovered the falsified invoices Mr Davies made for photographs in his Builth Wells constituency office in 2016.

Asked about the problems Ms Lewis had described working Mr Davies Mrs Pratt said: "Well I think I would describe her working in an environment that was very hostile. She had obviously discovered some documents which she was very uneasy with.

"As a member of the Welsh Conservative board she contacted me for advice."

In her statement she had described Ms Lewis as "working in an atmosphere of fear and threat" and Mr McCabe asked her "what threat?"

Mrs Pratt replied: "She was working in an atmosphere were her work was criticised at every level by Chris. He found fault with everything she did. I was very shocked to hear this as I knew the very competent person Sarah was."

Pushed again to specify a "threat" Mrs Pratt replied: "A threatening environment. When I say she was working in an atmosphere of threat, fear and threat I’m not referring to any particular threat I’m describing the atmosphere she was working in.

"She was working for an employer she couldn’t have a reasonable conversation with, she couldn’t sit down and discuss things in a reasonable way. Chris would get very angry and het up about things."

Mr Mccabe asked Mrs Pratt about an incident Ms Lewis had reported to her in which the MP had stood in the doorway of their "small" office and "banged" his fist on a filing cabinet.

Asked "what was the abuse?" Mrs Pratt said: "She told me he stood in door so she couldn’t get out and shouted at her and was clearly very angry. He shouted at her, banging his fist on the filing cabinet and told Sarah he came into politics to make money, not to lose it."

Mr Mccabe said the filing cabinet was on the other side of the room to the door and told Mrs Pratt: "Our case is this incident is a complete fabrication."

He also put it to Mrs Pratt she had just "recited" claims made by Ms Lewis in her statement. Asked why she hadn’t sought to investigate the allegations herself Mrs Pratt said that wasn’t her role but she had made the Mid Wales area chairman, Lisa Francis, aware and also encouraged Ms Lewis to follow the Conservative Party’s procedures and report her concerns to a special hotline.

The tribunal was also told Mr Davies had supported Ms Lewis in her successful campaign to be elected to Powys County Council, represenitng Brecon, in May 2017.

Mr Davies lost the Brecon and Radnorshire seat after he admitted criminal offences, under the Parliamentary Standards Act, in March this year for submitting two faked invoices, in 2016, in place of the original invoice, for £700 for photographs for his Builth Wells constituency office. He had been entitled to claim the costs back.

His conviction lead to a recall petition and though Mr Davies was selected as the Conservative candidate for the by-election in August he lost to the Liberal Democrats. Mr Davies had hoped to be selected as the Brecon and Radnorshire candidate for the on-going General Election but wasn’t put before party members. It was then reported he would be the Tory candidate in Ynys Mon but following a backlash on social media he announced he would withdraw as he did not wish to put his wife and family through "any more distress".

In a police statement made by Ms Lewis to police as part of the investigation into the 2016 expenses claims she explained how she had been working for the Brecon and Radnorshire Conservatives since 2014 and in August 2015, after Mr Davies had been elected for the first time at the May’s general election, had been asked to help him with his expenses claims.

She said Mr Davies had at first tried to deal with his expenses claims himself but had got into difficulties and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) had suspended his account.

Ms Lewis had then gone through Mr Davies’ expenses and it was agreed he would have to pay back £4,000.

She told London’s Met Police in her statement: "When I told Mr Davies how much he needed to repay he banged on the filing cabinet and said ’I thought the whole point of becoming an MP was to get rich’. I don’t know whether that was said in jest or not but I was in shock.

"I did not believe at that time it was a deliberate attempt or dishonest attempt to defraud on the part of Mr Davies."

Ms Lewis is seeking damages for stress which she said was brought about by a breach of contract after she had made a "protected disclosure" about Mr Davies’ expenses claims. She said she was no longer able to continue in her part time role as she could no longer work with Mr Davies and his team. The hearing will continue next week.