MP tells of abuse at 16 by then head of National Youth Theatre

The MP Chris Bryant has said he was sexually abused as a teenager by the head of the National Youth Theatre, Michael Croft.

- Eleni Courea

The Labour MP, who is an arts and telecoms minister, said he was 16 when he was abused by Croft, who was about 40 years his senior and died in 1986.

In an interview with the Sunday Times before the publication of his memoir, Bryant said Croft invited him to dinner every evening while he was attending rehearsals in London during the summer of 1978, and that they would go to his house afterwards.

He recalled coming back from the toilet one evening at Croft's house to find his host naked except for a silk robe. He said Croft then asked him for oral sex, which he felt he had no option but to go through with, leaving him feeling as if he was "a 16-year-old whore".