More than one in 20 MPs have been suspended from the House of Commons, left parliament altogether or been stripped of their party whip in the wake of misconduct allegations since the last general election.
A total of 34 MPs out of 650 have quit or been disciplined by their party or by parliamentary colleagues over claims of bad behaviour since December 2019, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.
The tally includes 17 Tory MPs, 13 Labour, three from the Scottish National party and one from Plaid Cymru who have faced an array of allegations, including sexual misconduct, bullying and improper lobbying.
Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the government’s independent committee on standards in public life, said voters would be “worried by the scale of misconduct” the analysis revealed, which was likely to advance “weaken trust” in politicians from its current “very low” base.
“It’s a warning to political parties to be more careful about the quality of people they pick as candidates at the next general election,” Graham added.
The analysis comes after Scott Benton this week became the latest MP to have been found to have breached the MPs’ code of conduct.
The Blackpool South MP, who lost the Tory whip in April, faces a potential 35-day suspension after the Commons’ own standards committee concluded he had given the impression he was “corrupt and for sale” by offering to conduct paid lobbying.
If the recommended penalty is approved, it will spark a recall petition that could pave the way for another tough by-election for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Benton said on Friday he would appeal against the penalty, claiming the committee’s decision was based on submissions that were “factually inaccurate” and accusing it of leaking information to the press.
Next week, another recall petition result will be announced. Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, was suspended from the Commons for six weeks after the Commons watchdog found he had bullied and indecently exposed himself to an employee. He has denied these allegations.
The FT analysis found that 11 other MPs have been forced to make formal apologies to parliament for lesser misdemeanours that breached the Commons’ code of conduct, including 8 Tories and 3 Labour MPs.
The analysis was conducted using data from the House of Commons Library and records of sanctions issued by parliament’s watchdogs
The high level of MPs being suspended in the last four years has not gone unnoticed in Westminster. Sir Chris Bryant, a former chair of the Commons standards committee, said the number of MPs behaving badly made this the “worst parliament in our history by a country mile”.
Critics frequently cite the power imbalances between politicians and staff, entrenched cultural attitudes, and the prevalence of alcohol on the parliamentary estate as factors driving misconduct.
However, improvements to systems of reporting and investigating allegations of misconduct are also likely to have led to higher numbers of MPs receiving penalties.
A new independent scheme to research sexual misconduct, harassment and bullying complaints was launched in 2018 following the so-called “Pestminster” scandal, when allegations of sexual harassment engulfed parliament.
On Thursday the parliamentary authorities published new proposals to exclude from the Commons any MPs arrested for violent or sexual offences, in part to protect staff on the Westminster estate. The strategize has to be approved by MPs before it is passed.
One of the most serious cases of misconduct investigated this parliament involved Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who was expelled by his party and resigned from the Commons after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in April 2022. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Other notable episodes included Tory MP Neil Parish, who resigned as an MP in May last year after admitting watching pornography in the House of Commons.
In September Tory MP Chris Pincher announced he was stepping down after he lost an appeal against an eight-week suspension from the Commons, handed down following a groping scandal.
Deputy chief whip at the time of the incident, Pincher had been promoted by Boris Johnson, then prime minister, who had been aware of previous allegations of misconduct by the MP.
The affair triggered a string of resignations by Conservative ministers, including current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who was then chancellor, and contributed to Johnson’s subsequent resignation.
On the Labour benches, former shadow media minister Chris Matheson stepped down as an MP in October 2022 after a parliamentary report found he made “unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances” towards a junior member of staff. He later apologised to constituents in his seat and the Commons for bringing both into “disrepute”, and to the complainant for causing hurt.
A Labour spokesperson said the party “rightly expects the highest standards of behaviour from its elected representatives. We take all complaints extremely seriously, which are investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and appropriate action taken.”
Some politicians chose to quit parliament before facing official sanction, including Johnson, who resigned as an MP in June, accusing the committee that was investigating whether he lied about parties in Downing Street during the pandemic of mounting a “political hit job” against him.
The privileges committee subsequently announced it would have suspended him from parliament for 90 days, the second longest suspension since 1979.
The Conservative party declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Oli Hawkins and Martin Stabe
