Kate Kniveton, a former Member of Parliament (MP) in the UK, has spoken out about the terrible abuse she suffered from her ex-husband, Andrew Griffiths, who was also a politician. In a new ITV documentary called Breaking The Silence: Kate’s Story, she says Griffiths raped her many times, once attacked her while she was sleeping, and even shouted at their newborn baby to “shut up” during a night feed.

Kate said that whenever she threatened to report him to the police, he would say things like, “Nobody will believe you, Kate. I’m the MP, and the police like me.” Kate took over Griffiths’ MP seat in Burton in 2019 and served until 2024. She said the abuse lasted for 10 years, and even after they separated, she faced five more years of legal trouble from him.

In 2021, a family court found that Griffiths had raped and abused her. He denied the rape but accepted the court's other findings. Kate Kniveton and Andrew Griffiths got married in 2013 and separated in 2018. Griffiths, who was once a rising star in the Conservative Party and spoke out for women’s rights, lost his government job after it was revealed he had sent over 2,000 sexual messages to two women from his area. In 2024, a court stopped Griffiths from having direct contact with their daughter.

In the documentary, Griffiths said the court had “failed his child” and claimed he had only been trying to stay in his child’s life. “Every child deserves to have both parents,” he said. “I’ll never stop fighting to show my child how much I love them.” Kate Kniveton, who gave up her legal right to stay anonymous, said, “I’m traumatised, not just by 10 years of abuse from him, but also by the five more years where he kept using the court system to continue that abuse.”