A man has been charged with making threatening comments online to former Scottish Conservative MP Ross Thomson.

It comes after Mr Thomson was cleared of allegations of sexual misconduct by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Thursday.

He was investigated after former Labour MP Paul Sweeney said the Tory had “groped” him in a Westminster bar.

General Election 2017 aftermath
Mr Thomson (third from right) was one of 13 Scottish Tory MPs elected in 2017 under the leadership of Ruth Davidson (Lesley Martin/PA)

Mr Thomson, who ran Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign in Scotland, stood down as the party’s candidate for the Aberdeen South seat in November last year after Mr Sweeney went public with the accusations.

The former MP said he has endured abuse since the allegations were made, including death threats that led to police being contacted.

He told The Times: “There are still some things that, believe it or not, two years down the line they are still dealing with, including death threats.

“I have never, ever dealt with levels of abuse like I did then.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “A 25-year-old man has been charged in relation to threatening comments made online.

“A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

The former MP said the outcome of the investigation “clearly showed” the claims were a “smear”, adding he had been through a “living hell with these false allegations”.

Mr Thomson, who was one of 13 Scottish Conservative MPs elected in the 2017 general election, said he is now considering legal action.

In a statement on Thursday, he said: “Evidence submitted to the commissioner by an independent investigator supported my view that the allegations levelled against me were both false and malicious.

“From the start of this ordeal I maintained that I was the victim of a smear and the 19-month investigation clearly showed this to be the case.”