Scott Benton, the (newly displaced) MP for Blackpool South, has had the Conservative whip removed after an undercover investigation for The Times caught him offering to lobby ministers, table parliamentary questions, leak a confidential policy document, and obtain “behind the scenes” information for a fictitious consortium of gambling industry investors.
Much pious tosh will be written in the next 48 hours or so decrying Benton’s foolishness, assailing the lobbyocracy, and suggesting that leaking a white paper a day or two before it was published means British democracy is doomed. Rather than join that tedious chorus, we have instead seen this as an opportunity to note that this means Benton is now the 15th MP sitting as an independent.
That’s more than the Liberal Democrats. Each was elected for a party in 2019 – in the case of the MP for Islington North as its leader – but has had the whip removed after one of those scandals or allegations of misconduct that play such a depressingly routine part in our political life. Each member, and their reason for having the whip removed, is below.
- Scott Benton – As noted above, Benton had the Conservative whip removed last night after being suspected of breaking lobbying rules following a Times investigation. ConservativeHome recently exclusively disclosed that he is one of those MPs who has been declared ‘displaced’ by boundary changes and allowed to seek a new seat elsewhere – despite the fact the new Blackpool South constituency comprises 75 per cent of the previous one.
- Andrew Bridgen – The ex-Tory MP for North West Leicestershire had the whip suspended in January after he questioned the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines and compared their implementation to the Holocaust. Here’s what I wrote about it at the time. I don’t imagine that his suspension will be giving the Whips’ Office sleepless nights.
- Nick Brown – Brown has been the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East since 1983, and was the longest serving Chief Whip of the Labour Party, serving under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn, and Kier Starmer. So it was rather shocking when he was suspended from the party last September – especially as Labour won’t actually tell us why. Reportedly, a ‘complaint’ is being investigated.
- Jeremy Corbyn – The ‘Absolute Boy’, ex-leader of the Labour Party, and MP for Islington North had the whip suspended in October 2020 after asserting that the scale of antisemitism within Labour had been ‘overstated’ for ‘political reasons’. Starmer is currently aiming to bury any evidence of his closeness to Corbyn with a zeal not hitherto seen outside the Ministry of Truth, meaning his successor will not be endorsed as a Labour candidate at the next election. That whip ain’t coming back. i cri evry tiem.
- Neil Coyle – The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark was suspended by Labour (and barred from all bars on the Westminster estate) in February 2022 over ‘alleged Sinophobia’ and apparent poor form in Strangers’ Bar. In March, he was suspended from the Commons for five days for breaching Parliament’s bullying and harassment policy – and had a sexual harassment complaint upheld against him.
- Jonathan Edwards – Elected as the Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Difenwr at every election since 2010, Edwards had his party’s whip removed in May 2020 after he accepted a police caution for domestic violence against his wife. He suggested he was quite enjoying the freedom being an independent MP gave him, but Plaid readmitted him last year. This decision provoked an understandable uproar, and Edwards announced he would not be rejoining the Plaid group after all – and he suggests he has a “groundswell of support” from locals to stand at the next election.
- Margaret Ferrier – The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a sterling example of the probity we have come to expect from the SNP. She was suspended in October 2020 for breaching lockdown rules in spectacular fashion. She spent five days with Covid symptoms travelling back and forth between Scotland and London. Nicola Sturgeon (remember her?) called on her to resign; she was later arrested and charged by Police Scotland. With the Committee on Standards just having recommended she be suspended for 30 days, a by-election looks imminent – and one that a resurgent Scottish Labour looks odds-on to win.
- Matt Hancock – You know why.
- Julian Knight – The MP for Solihull had the Conservative whip removed in December 20022 after the Metropolitan Police began an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault. Knight stated he was “entirely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever”. Last week, the Met announced it was no longer investigating the allegation – but the Tory whips office has yet to restore Knight, following “further complaints”.
- Conor McGinn – Having represented St Helens North at every election since 2015 – and being picked as the Pink News Politician of the Year in 2018 over his campaign to impose gay marriage on Northern Ireland – he was suspended from Labour in December over an unspecified complaint. He says he “strongly reject[s] any suggestion of wrongdoing”.
- Christopher Pincher – Did you know that a Bloody Mary is perfect at almost any time of day and in every kind of weather? The MP for Tamworth and columnist for The Critic had his walk-on part in history last year, and, despite his best efforts to make amends with the ex-PM, remains suspended from the Conservative Party.
- Christina Rees – The MP for Neath served as Corbyn’s Shadow Welsh Secretary for three years. She was once married to Ron Davies, the former Secretary of State and “architect of devolution” who later swapped having a “moment of madness” on Clapham Common for “watching badgers” in a motorway lay-by. But the reason for her suspension is no laughing matter- she had the Labour whip removed last year over allegations of bullying staff.
- Rob Roberts – The ex-Tory MP for Delyn has never been far from scandal in his brief time in the House of Commons. Following a series of misconduct allegations since 2020 – including from female and male members of staff who believed he had acted inappropriately towards them – Roberts had the whip removed in May 2021 after he was found to have broken Parliament’s sexual misconduct policy. He was suspended for six weeks. Despite calls from Jacob Rees-Mogg and Starmer for him to resign, he remains in Parliament. One can only apologise to his unlucky constituents (and staff).
- David Warburton – The MP for Somerton and Frome once studied under Sir Harrison Birtwistle, is a member of Mensa and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and was a successful businessman before entering politics. But last year he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital whilst suffering from severe shock and stress following allegations of sexual harassment and drug use – as reported in The Times. The Conservative whip was removed pending an investigation.
- Claudia Webbe – The people of Leicester East would have hoped Webbe would be an improvement on her predecessor Keith Vaz. No such luck. Like Roberts, she was first elected as an MP in 2019. But she had the Labour whip suspended in September 2020 after she was charged with harassment of a woman between September 2018 and April 2020. She was found guilty in 2021, and although her sentence was reduced on appeal, Labour called for her to resign at both the time she was convicted and when she was sentenced.
All in all, quite a depressing compendium of behaviour – alleged or otherwise. No wonder the public hold politicians in such contempt.