Neil Coyle suspended from Commons for five days after ‘drunken abuse’

Neil Coyle: ‘No one should leave any MP’s company so shocked and appalled at their inappropriate behaviour or failure to meet the standards rightly expected of this office.’ Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Neil Coyle will be suspended from the House of Commons for five days and has made a public apology in parliament after breaching its harassment policy with incidents of “drunken abuse” and “racist comments”.

The MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark was found by the parliamentary standards commissioner to have breached the policy with drunken behaviour in the House of Commons Strangers’ bar last year. He has had the Labour whip withdrawn since February 2022, and Keir Starmer faces a decision over whether to lift the suspension.