A Labour Party spokesperson said, “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of behaviour from all our MPs and we take allegations of this sort very seriously. Accordingly the Chief Whip has now suspended the Labour whip from Neil Coyle pending an investigation.”
The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark Neil Coyle has had the Labour whip suspended pending an investigation into his conduct. This follows allegations made by the journalist Henry Dyer that Coyle had made ‘Sinophobic’ comments towards him in a House of Commons bar.
According to Dyer, Coyle described the alleged ‘Chinese spy’ Christine Lee as “Fu-Manchu”, and said to Dyer, “from how you look like you’ve [sic] been giving renminbi to Barry Gardiner.” Dyer described this as a “racist, discriminatory and unpleasant” incident.
According to LabourList editor Sienna Rodgers, a Labour Party spokesperson said, “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of behaviour from all our MPs and we take allegations of this sort very seriously. Accordingly the Chief Whip has now suspended the Labour whip from Neil Coyle pending an investigation.”
Having the whip suspended means that Coyle will not be sitting as a Labour MP for the duration of the investigation.
Coyle has since apologised. He told the Mirror, “I’m very sorry for my insensitive comments, have apologised to everyone involved and will be cooperating fully with the investigation.”
The comments Coyle allegedly made have been widely condemned by journalists and politicians. Novara Media co-founder James Butler said the comments Coyle has alleged to have made are “repulsive” and described Coyle as being “unfit to be an MP”. Adam Bienkov – Byline Times’ political editor described Coyle’s alleged behaviour as “really shocking”. Prior to the whip being suspended, Labour Oxford City Councillor Shaista Aziz said Coyle should be “suspended immediately and investigated by Labour”.
Following the suspension of the whip to Coyle, anti-racist campaign group Hope Not Hate said, “The recycling of racist tropes cannot be normalised, especially not in parliament. During the pandemic, we have seen a significant rise in Sinophobia and anti-Asian racism and to see that same hate spouted in the corridors of power is deeply disturbing and needs to be stamped out. We are pleased to see that Labour has announced that Neil Coyle’s whip will be suspended pending investigation.”
Coyle had previously been accused of shouting ‘f**k you’ at a Labour aide, and telling a Tory MP to ‘f**k off and lose some weight’ in another row in a House of Commons bar, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
Coyle had already been banned from all bars in the House of Commons, following these incidents.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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