MP Neil Coyle should be suspended from the Commons for five days after breaching parliament’s bullying and harassment policy, a report has found.
Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said Coyle was guilty of “foul-mouthed and drunken abuse” of another MP’s assistant.
In another case, the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark was “accused of bullying and harassment” of a journalist, using “abusive language with racial overtones”.
Both incidents occurred in parliament’s Strangers’ Bar, where MPs frequently gather to drink.
The journalist, Henry Dyer, who covered politics for the Insider websiat the time, made public the accusations in February 2022.
Dyer, who is British-Chinese, said he came into contact with Coyle in parliament on the evening of February 1, after going for Chinese New Year dinner with his family.
He accused the MP of making Sinophobic remarks, which he said made him feel uncomfortable.
Sir Stephen Irwin, the chair of the IEP, said it was clear that “very marked abuse of alcohol was at the root of events”.
According to the report, Coyle has taken “considerable steps to ensure no repetition of the behaviour” including informing the panel that he has stopped drinking alcohol.
Coyle was elected as a Labour MP in 2015, but had the party whip suspended in February 2022 when the allegations came to light.