Tory MP who 'exposed himself to staff member and trapped him in hotel toilet' faces suspension

Sign up to receive the e -mail View from Westminster for expert analysis straight to your inboxReceive our free View from Westminster emailPlease enter a valid email addressPlease enter a valid email addressI would like to receive offers, events and updates by email updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice{{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later.{{ /verifyErrors }}

Conservative MP Peter Bone could be banned from Parliament for six weeks after being found guilty of indecently exposing himself to a member of staff and having her trapped in a hotel room toilet. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has confirmed five allegations of bullying and one of sexual misconduct against the MP for Wellingborough and Rushden. The recommended six-week suspension for Mr Bone would trigger a recall petition if approved by Parliament, creating a new headache for Rishi Sunak's by-election.

Mr. Bone was found by Parliament's Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which rules on complaints against MPs, to have "committed numerous acts of intimidation and one act of sexual misconduct" against a member of his staff in 2012 and 2013.

The MP, elected in 2005, engaged in “violence, shouting and insults, mocking, depreciating and humiliating behavior, as well as ostracism” .

In his report, the Standards Commissioner concluded that Mr Bone had:

Indecently exposed himself to the complainant while traveling abroad, first in the bathroom of the hotel room they shared, then in the bedroom. "He had been verbally belittled, ridiculed, mistreated and humiliated" the complainant "On several occasions physically hit and thrown objects at "the complainant "Imposed an unwanted and humiliating ritual" on the complainant, in particular by ordering him or physically forcing him to put his hands on his knees when Mr. Bone was dissatisfied with him or his work “He repeatedly pressured [the complainant] to give him a massage at the office” a hotel in Madrid.

The report details how Mr Bone booked a single hotel room for himself and the complainant during a work trip to Spain, which a staff member told The Independent is extremely UN...