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Tory report labels MP Aidan Burley 'stupid but not racist' after Nazi costume stunt

Cannock Chase Conservative was pictured wearing an SS uniform during a stag party in France

Aidan Burley was sacked as a ministerial aide in 2011

A West Midlands Conservative MP who organised a Nazi-themed stag party in France was "stupid and offensive" but is not racist or anti-Semitic, an internal party inquiry found.

The verdict on Cannock Chase MP Aidan Burley - who was sacked as a ministerial aide over the 2011 episode - has been released because French prosecutors have concluded their investigation.

Groom Mark Fournier - for whom Mr Burley acted as best man - was fined 1,500 euros (about £1,200) for wearing the SS uniform and insignia supplied by the MP, which is outlawed in France.

A court in Albertville also ordered 33-year-old Fournier to pay 1,000 euros (about £820) to an organisation representing the families of Holocaust victims.

Neither Mr Burley nor any of the other 10 guests who attended the party in the Alpine ski resort of Val Thoren in December 2011 were prosecuted.

But the Conservatives had halted publication of the findings of a disciplinary investigation by Tory peer Lord David Gold while legal proceedings were continuing.

It shows that Lord Gold accepted the assurances of the MP - once seen as a high-flier in British politics - that there was "no political motivation whatsoever" in the choice of theme.

But he said his "unacceptable and offensive actions" threw into question his judgment and that it was right that he was sacked as parliamentary private secretary to Philip Hammond.