Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has returned to the Commons for the first time since his arrest over an alleged sex attack.
Mr Bridgen. MP for North West Leicestershire, spoke during Work and Pensions Questions four days after being questioned by police investigating claims that he groped a woman he met in a pub.
As he rose to his feet midway through the hour-long question time, Tory backbenchers murmured their support for Mr Bridgen as he asked junior minister Maria Miller about disability living allowance payments.
Married father-of-two Mr Bridgen has strongly denied claims that he sexually assaulted a 29-year-old woman in Westminster in the early hours of last Thursday.
He said in a statement last week: "The allegations made against me are wholly false and without foundation.
"Fortunately, they are also demonstrably and provably false.
"I am naturally angry that I have been targeted in this mischievous and damaging way."
Mr Bridgen, who entered Parliament after last year's general election and is regarded as being on the right of the party, is on police bail until mid-July.
