John Bercow, former speaker of the UK parliament, is being administratively suspended from the Labour Party after being found to be a “serial bully”.
Mr Bercow is under investigation by the party, with a decision on the future of his membership to follow, the UK’s Press Association news agency reported.
The former Conservative MP switched to Labour in 2021 after quitting as speaker in 2019.
The suspension by Labour comes after Mr Bercow was branded a “serial liar” and banned from holding a pass to parliament following an investigation into his conduct.
Parliament's Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said it backed a decision by parliamentary standards commissioner Kathryn Stone to uphold 21 allegations against Mr Bercow from three complainants, all House of Commons staff at the time, relating to the period 2009 to 2014.
Mr Bercow appealed against the commissioner's findings to the IEP but it upheld her verdicts without exception.
The former MP for Buckingham defected to Labour last year, saying he regarded the Conservatives under Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.
He had served as a Conservative MP for 12 years until he was elected speaker, a neutral role, in 2009.
Mr Bercow denied that he changed allegiances in a bid to gain a peerage, which is traditionally bestowed upon former speakers, having fallen out with his own party.
Labour's move comes after Conservative MP and former Commons leader Andrea Leadsom urged the opposition party to expel their high-profile member following the publication of the IEP's report on Tuesday.
The Tory MP told Times Radio that Mr Bercow was “incredibly discourteous” to people, and that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “must expel” him from the party.
“I had pretty much frequent run-ins with him and I saw the way he treated other people,” she said. “I do believe it was unacceptable.
“And, actually, what is so awful about it is that the speaker of the House of Commons is almost the sort of highest authority here, you know, he or she is responsible for behaviour in the House of Commons, responsible for the way that we run things here. And it's just unacceptable.”
Ms Leadsom was Commons leader between June 2017 and May 2019.
The former cabinet minister had a number of public spats with Mr Bercow in the chamber while in her Commons role, including one instance when she confronted him in 2018 over allegations he had referred to her as a “stupid woman”.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group H
Manchester United v Young Boys, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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