The MP for Wellingborough was found to have ‘committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct’ against a member of his staff in 2012 and 2013.
Tory MP Peter Bone is facing a six-week suspension for bullying and sexual misconduct after a report by parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found that he ‘trapped’ a member of staff in a room where he exposed himself – in what the panel said was a ‘deliberate and conscious abuse of power’.
The MP for Wellingborough was found to have ‘committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct’ against a member of his staff in 2012 and 2013, the panel said.
The suspension will have to be voted on by the House of Commons to be approved, triggering a recall petition that could potentially lead to a by-election in Bone’s constituency.
The panel found that Bone had indecently exposed himself to the staffer during an overseas trip. It also upheld five allegations of bullying, including “instructing, or physically forcing, the complainant to put his hands in his lap when Mr Bone was unhappy with him or his work”.
Overall complaints included four allegations of bullying, detailing that Mr Bone “verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” his employee and “repeatedly physically struck and threw things” at him.
It was also alleged that Mr Bone had “repeatedly pressurised” the member of staff to give him a massage in the office and, on a visit to Madrid with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking, indecently exposed himself to the complainant in the bathroom and bedroom of the hotel room they were sharing.
The MP had appealed against the panel’s findings, arguing the investigation had been flawed. However, this was dismissed by a sub-panel, which said the investigation had been carried out correctly.
Responding to the panel’s findings, Bone issued a statement denying the findings of the panel.
He said: “As I have maintained throughout these proceedings, none of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place.
“They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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