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Peter Bone has been sacked by his constituents after a Westminster probe found him guilty of bullying and sexually harassing a member of his staff.
The Wellingborough MP was stripped of the Tory whip after being suspended from the Commons for six weeks in October.
That led to a recall petition in his constituency and today it was confirmed that more than 13.2% of registered voters had voted to dump him – higher than the 10% threshold and thereby triggering yet another crunch by-election.
Bone, who was first elected in 2005, retained his seat in 2019 with a majority of 18,540.
However, the by-election is another major headache for Rishi Sunak as Labour will be hopeful of pulling off a shock victory.
Westminster’s behaviour watchdog, the Independent Expert Panel, found that Bone had committed “many varied acts of bullying” and “sexual misconduct” against the staff member in 2012 and 2013.
“The bullying involved violence, shouting and swearing, mocking, belittling and humiliating behaviour, and ostracism,” the IEP said.
“This wilful pattern of bullying also included an unwanted incident of sexual misconduct, when the complainant was trapped in a room with the respondent in a hotel in Madrid.
“This was a deliberate and conscious abuse of power using a sexual mechanism: indecent exposure.”
Bone appealed the IEP’s initial decision, but it was dismissed.
In a statement at the time, he said: “None of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place. They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation.”
Reacting to the recall petition result, Bone said it was “bizarre” to lose his seat when 86.8% of voters in Wellingborough did not sign the petition.
He said: “I will have more to say on these matters in the new year. may I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.”
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