NAVY insiders have branded shamed MP Ross Thomson an “idiot” for messing around in a Commons pub with a senior officer’s hat on.
The boozed-up Tory grabbed the official cap from a coat rack then plonked it on his head in Westminster’s Strangers’ Bar.
The episode has sparked another storm over his behaviour just days after he was huckled by cops from the same parly watering hole — amid claims he had “sexually groped” two men during a drinking session.
A senior SNP insider claimed the two incidents were “just a couple of examples among many”, adding: “It makes you question whether he’s fit to be an elected politician.”
Sources claim the Aberdeen South MP, 31, was with fellow Tories at the famous parliament drinking den when senior Naval officers walked in with colleagues.
The military chiefs had been at a dinner attended by the head of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones.
It’s understood the admiral was not among the top brass who were in Strangers’ Bar last May when Mr Thomson grabbed the hat from a coat rack, put it on his own head, then began clowning around.
An eyewitness told The Scottish Sun on Sunday: “A group of four MPs were in the bar, including Ross, who was drinking heavily.
“He’s such an extrovert and was being loud and effervescent.
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“Three men walked in with full Navy regalia, one of them covered in all the braids. One officer hung his hat up then nipped out to the terrace to have a drink outside.
“Ross took the cap off the rack, put it on and was sort of joking, fooling around, laughing out loud.
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“The response from people in his group was nervous laughter. It was a little bit funny but inappropriate. It was drunken antics.”
This week Mr Thomson insisted allegations he’d groped two men in Strangers’ were “completely false”.
But the senior Nats source said: “The point about these stories is that everyone can believe them, no matter how hard Ross Thomson tries to deny them.”
A Navy insider added: “The officers had been at a function. If some idiot wants to put their cap on they’ll politely tolerate that.”
Mr Thomson hit the headlines this week after it emerged cops had to be called to Strangers’ on Tuesday to escort him out.
It was alleged the sozzled politician,had grabbed the backsides of two young men.
The Scottish Sun told yesterday how pals claimed Mr Thomson only did it to stop himself from keeling over.
Sources insisted the politician been “holding on to bottoms in a bid not to fall on the floor”.
The MP announced that in the “interests of openness and transparency” he had referred himself to an internal Tory disciplinary panel to examine the claims.
But he has yet to be referred to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
Worried pals tried to calm down Mr Thomson minutes before police escorted him from the bar.
Scotland Office minister Lord Duncan and fellow Tory MP David Duguid noticed trouble brewing and attempted to persuade him to leave “before things got out of hand”.
But sources revealed Mr Thomson refused their offers of help. Cops were called and the incident was reported to a Parly security official.
Another Commons source said: “It’s been claimed Thomson had been in two bars before arriving at Strangers’ Bar — his favourite spot — and was three sheets to the wind.
“If anyone else got this drunk at their workplace, they’d probably be in serious trouble from their HR bosses. But this is part of the culture here and Thomson has become a part of that.
“He has become ‘that MP who is always clowning around in the bar’.
“But that does a serious disservice to him and to the many people he is supposed to be representing.”
A Royal Navy spokesman declined to comment, as did Mr Thomson.
matthew.coyle@ the-sun.co.uk
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