Neil Coyle will be suspended from the House of Commons for five days and has made a public apology in parliament after breaching its harassment policy with incidents of “drunken abuse” and “racist comments”.
The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark was found by the parliamentary standards commissioner to have breached the policy with drunken behaviour in the House of Commons Strangers’ bar last year. He has had the Labour whip withdrawn since February 2022, and Keir Starmer faces a decision over whether to lift the suspension.
In the first case, Coyle was found to have engaged in “foul-mouthed and drunken abuse” towards a junior parliamentary assistant employed by another MP.
The independent expert panel, which recommended a sanction of two days’ suspension and an apology in parliament, said this was “shocking and intimidating for any complainant, particularly a junior member of staff”.
In the second case, he was found to have “used abusive language with racial overtones” towards a British-Chinese journalist, Henry Dyer, who then worked for Insider and is now employed by the Guardian. The report said Coyle was in a group with Dyer discussing a Labour MP who was reported to have received donations from an individual alleged to be working with the Chinese Communist party.
Coyle suggested the MP, Barry Gardiner, was being paid by “Fu Manchu”, a fictional Chinese “supervillain”, to which Dyer explained that he was half-Chinese and that it was unnecessary to use such a trope. Coyle replied that he could tell from how Dyer looked that he had “been giving renminbi to” Gardiner. Later, Dyer said Coyle put two fingers up in a V gesture as he was leaving.
The commissioner found Coyle had breached parliament’s harassment policy in this second case, which the MP then appealed against. His appeal was rejected by the independent expert panel, which said: “Central to this case are comments made by the respondent which were experienced by the complainant as ‘racist and abusive conduct’. The comments were unacceptable and constitute harassment, as they had the effect of violating the complainant’s dignity and created an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’. The racist nature of the comments is a serious aggravating factor in this case.”
The report said Coyle had “made such comments while under the influence of excessive amounts of alcohol which, while undoubtedly contributing to his behaviour, in no way excuse it, as the respondent rightly accepts”.
“Nonetheless, since the incident, the respondent has taken considerable steps to ensure no repetition of the behaviour, including informing us that he has stopped drinking alcohol,” it said.
The panel recommended he be suspended from the House of Commons for three days and that he make an apology to parliament.
Starmer will have to make a decision about whether to restore the whip to Coyle. Earlier this week, he gave the whip back to Rupa Huq, who apologised and undertook anti-racism and bias training after having suggested the former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was “superficially black”.
On Friday, Coyle released a statement on his Twitter feed apologising, saying he was “deeply sorry for [his] offensive behaviour and language last year”. He said he was “ashamed that alcohol had become so problematic” in his life that he had developed a dependency and that he he would remain teetotal after a year of not drinking.
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The MP also apologised in parliament on Friday morning, saying: “I wish to specifically apologise to the two complainants subject to my drunken offensive behaviour and attitude … No one should leave any MP’s company so shocked and appalled at their inappropriate behaviour or failure to meet the standards rightly expected of this office.”
Coyle also thanked the complainants for their bravery and said he would “take the punishment on the chin”.
Dyer said: “Everyone working in parliament should be able to do so without harassment and abuse. I spoke out to raise awareness of racism, particularly anti-Asian racism, and of inappropriate conduct. Any sanction is a matter for the parliamentary authorities to decide on.
“I am grateful to the ICGS [Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme] for the way in which they have handled this matter, and to my colleagues and friends for their support and kindness. I am pleased this process has concluded and I can get on with my work as a journalist reporting on Westminster.”
