John Bercow administratively suspended from Labour Party after bullying scandal

Former Speaker John Bercow has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation after he was found to be a “serial bully”.

Mr Bercow has been banned from holding a pass to Parliament after an investigation carried out by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone found him guilty of bullying.

Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which upheld Miss Stone's findings, said it would have also recommended he be expelled from the House if he were still a sitting member.

Speaking in the Commons, Conservative Michael Fabricant has called for a debate on “how on earth this could have lasted so long, this terror of bullying”.

He said: “This was behaviour which had no place in any workplace. Members of staff in this House should not be expected to have to tolerate it as a part of every day life.

"Now there were many people in this House, I included, who tried to raise this on several occasions when John Bercow was speaker, but nothing was done.

“I feel that not only has John Bercow been shown to be of a disreputable nature, but in some ways this House has been put into disrepute and I simply ask you, will there be any occasion for the leader of the House to come here and make a statement about this damning report and the damning report about John Bercow and also give an opportunity to debate how on earth this could have lasted so long, this terror of bullying.”

Mr Bercow has called the investigation a “travesty of justice” and described it as “amateurish”.

In a statement, he said: “Parliament is supposed to be the highest court in the land. This inquiry, which lasted a ghastly 22 months at great cost to the taxpayer, has failed it dismally.

“At the end of it, the panel has simply said that I should be denied a parliamentary pass which I have never applied for and do not want. That is the absurdity of its position."