Reform MP Lee Anderson has been ordered to apologise to a member of parliamentary staff after swearing at them.
The Independent Expert Panel concluded on Wednesday that the chief whip of the Reform Party had breached parliament’s bullying and harassment policy during an incident last year.
The exchange took place on November 3, 2023, when Anderson instructed a guard to open a door at the Derby Gate search post, one of the entrances to parliament.
After he was asked to show his pass, Anderson allegedly said: “Fuck off, everyone opens the door to me, you are the only one.”
Asked again, the MP is said to have replied: “Fuck you, I have a train to catch.”
According to the complaint, he then walked out of the search post.
The report concluded Anderson had “accepted that he was ‘upset, impatient and angry’ but not ‘aggressive’ and denied swearing at the complainant.”
After a complaint was made to the independent complaints and grievance scheme, the parliamentary commissioner for standards concluded that Anderson swore twice at a security officer.
Anderson appealed, but that was dismissed because it “failed to raise any substantive grounds”.
The MP then accepted the findings, and “expressed a desire to apologise”, according to the report.
The panel did acknowledge that Anderson faced “challenging personal circumstances” on that day and his “unacceptable behaviour” was not “planned or pre-mediated”.
He apologised to the House on Wednesday afternoon, saying: “I would like to apologise to the complainant and to this House for my behaviour.
“Our security staff do an incredible job and should always be treated with the utmost respect.
“The standards of an MP’s behaviour must always be at the highest standard.
“I give you and this House my firm assurance that I have learnt significant lessons through this process and a firm undertaking that such behaviour, on my part, will never happen again.”
Anderson became Reform’s first MP earlier this year when he defected from the Conservatives to Nigel Farage’s party – Reform now has five MPs sitting in parliament.