Politics

Peter Bone: Ex-Tory MP accused of sexual misconduct and bullying suspended from Commons for six weeks

Published

2 years ago

October 26, 2023

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Former Conservative minister Peter Bone has been suspended from the Commons for six weeks.

The MP has been accused of bullying and sexual misconduct by a former member of staff.

Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel found he had “trapped” them in a room and exposed himself – an action it called a “deliberate and conscious abuse of power”.

Other bullying incidents have been alleged between 2012 and 2013.

Mr Bone – who has had the Tory whip removed – continues to deny the allegations.

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The 71-year-old’s suspension was approved by parliament, meaning he will face a recall petition in his constituency of Wellingborough.

If 10% of voters sign it, a by-election will be called for the seat – in what is yet another headache for Rishi Sunak.

Mr Bone was made deputy leader of the Commons in 2022, in the final days of Boris Johnson’s administration.

He has held the seat for the Conservatives since 2005 and retained it at the last general election with a majority of 18,540.

The Liberal Democrats also demanded an inquiry into what the former prime minister and other senior figures knew about the allegations Mr Bone faced at the time he was given the frontbench role.

Five allegations by a Westminster staffer were made in October 2021 after a complaint made to the then-prime minister Theresa May in 2017 went unresolved, the IEP said.

The complaints included four allegations of bullying, saying Mr Bone:

• “Verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” his employee
• “Repeatedly physically struck and threw things” at him, including hitting him with his hand or an object such as a pencil or a rolled-up document
• Imposed an “unwanted and humiliating ritual” on him by forcing him to sit with his hands in his lap when the MP was unhappy with his work
• Ostracised the complainant following an incident on a work trip to Madrid

The person involved in the case told the BBC it was a “horrid, brutal, dark experience that left me a broken shell of the young man I once was”.

“His temper was often explosive. I described it as like a pendulum,” he said, adding that Mr Bone’s behaviour was “relentless”.

He claimed that the Conservative Party “effectively ghosted” him for three years after he reported the allegations, including the complaint to Ms May in 2017.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is asking for procedural advice because former Tory minister Liam Fox raised concerns about a possible contempt of Parliament due to the BBC interview.

Politics

Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

Published

1 hour ago

July 9, 2025

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Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

The Chinese owner of British Steel has held fresh talks with government officials in a bid to break the impasse over ministers’ determination not to compensate it for seizing control of the company.

Sky News has learnt that executives from Jingye Group met senior civil servants from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) late last week to discuss ways to resolve the standoff.

Whitehall sources said the talks had been cordial, but that no meaningful progress had been made towards a resolution.

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Jingye wants the government to agree to pay it hundreds of millions of pounds for taking control of British Steel in April – a move triggered by the Chinese group’s preparations for the permanent closure of its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

Such a move would have cost thousands of jobs and ended Britain’s centuries-old ability to produce virgin steel.

Jingye had been in talks for months to seek £1bn in state aid to facilitate the Scunthorpe plant’s transition to greener steelmaking, but was offered just half that sum by ministers.

British Steel has not yet been formally nationalised, although that remains a probable outcome.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has previously dismissed the idea of compensating Jingye, saying British Steel’s equity was essentially worthless.

Last month, he met his Chinese counterpart, where the issue of British Steel was discussed between the two governments in person for the first time.

Jingye has hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of it.

News of last week’s meeting comes as British steelmakers face an anxious wait to learn whether their exports to the US face swingeing tariffs as part of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Sky News’s economics and data editor, Ed Conway, revealed this week that the UK would miss a White House-imposed deadline to agree a trade deal on steel and aluminium this week.

Jingye declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We acted quickly to ensure the continued operations of the blast furnaces but recognise that securing British Steel’s long-term future requires private sector investment.

“We have not nationalised British Steel and are working closely with Jingye on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site.”