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Labour MP: I was sexually abused at 16 by theatre boss
The Independent
|August 04, 2025
Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant has said he was sexually abused as a teenager by the then head of the National Youth Theatre.
The Labour arts and telecoms minister also said he has been sexually assaulted by five male MPs during his time in Westminster, although he has not named or reported them. Sir Chris said Michael Croft, who died in 1986, had invited him to dinner every evening while he was attending the company in London during the summer of 1978.
Mr Croft was 40 years the then 16-year-old Sir Chris’s senior, and the MP said one evening, having returned to Mr Croft’s house, he came back from the toilet to find his host naked except for a silk robe.
The MP for Rhondda and Ogmore said Mr Croft then asked him for sex, which he felt he had no option but to go through with, leaving him feeling like he was “a 16-year-old whore”.
Speaking to The Sunday Times ahead of the release of his book, 
This story is from the August 04, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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