SIR Michael Fallon was forced to resign as Defence Secretary partly because he was accused of behaving inappropriately towards his Cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom, it was reported yesterday.

But Downing Street sources claimed Leadsom did not ask the Prime Minister to sack the Tory veteran from his post. The denial followed reports the Commons Leader passed a dossier of claims about Fallon to Number 10.

It is being claimed that Leadsom presented a number of allegations to Theresa May on Tuesday. They are said to date back to when she and Fallon were on the Treasury Select Committee between 2010 and 2012.

Leadsom is said to have objected to lewd remarks he made at a meeting six years ago. Reports said that when she complained her hands were cold, Fallon allegedly replied: “I know somewhere you can put them to warm up.”

Allies of the former Defence Sec- retary said he “fundamentally denied” making such a comment. Leadsom is also said to have complained of unwanted physical contact, including that he placed an arm round her.

Fallon was presented with the allegations by May after Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. According to reports, he denied making the hand-warming comment, but admitted some of his remarks during committee meetings “might not have been appropriate”.

Westminster was stunned on Wednesday evening when Fallon announced he was resigning, saying his past behaviour had “fallen below the high standards we require of the Armed Forces”. Earlier this week he apologised for touching the knee of journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer at a dinner in 2002. Hartley-Brewer said she had not regarded the incident as “anything but mildly amusing”.

Speaking to MPs on Monday about the sexual harassment allegations that have engulfed Westminster in recent days, Leadsom said no-one who works in Parliament should be made to feel “uncomfortable”.

She said the key yardstick must be how those on the receiving end were made to feel. Leadsom said: “I have been clear that the issue is around, first, those who are made to feel uncomfortable: I am setting the bar significantly below criminal activity. If people are made to feel uncomfortable, that is not correct.

“In terms of the consequences for the perpetrators, I have also been clear that staff could forfeit their jobs, Members of Parliament could have the whip withdrawn, and ministers could be fired from ministerial office.”

In another development yesterday, a member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee warned Jeremy Corbyn the party’s new procedure for dealing with complaints of sexual harassment is “insufficient”.

Under the new process, grievances would be reviewed by a specialist panel appointed by the NEC. However, NEC member Jasmin Beckett has now written to the Labour leader urging him to consider setting up a fully independent body to deal with sensitive complaints.

Her warning came as Corbyn was criticised by a Labour backbencher for promoting Kelvin Hopkins to the shadow cabinet last year after a party activist had raised allegations about his behaviour.

Hopkins last night strenuously denied the woman’s claims that he sexually harassed her.

In a separate development, Lab our has launched an inquiry into an  allegation that Norwich South MP Clive Lewis groped a woman at the party’s annual conference, which he denies.

Tory chief whip Julian Smith said last night that Dover MP Charlie  Elphicke has had the Conservative whip suspended following serious allegations that have been referred to the police. Smith did not state the nature of the allegations.

Elphicke, a former Tory whip and a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said in a tweet: “The party tipped off the press before telling me of my suspension. I am not aware of what the alleged claims are and deny any wrongdoing.”