Tory MP Peter Bone hit and abused staff member, watchdog says

The panel recommended Bone be suspended from the Commons for six weeks, enough to trigger a recall petition if upheld by the whole house. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Conservative MP Peter Bone repeatedly hit and verbally abused a member of his staff, often asked him for massages and on one occasion put his bare genitals in the other man’s face, according to a report by a Commons regulator.

Bone, one of the most prominent members of the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, was found by the independent expert panel to have bullied and harassed his staff member over a three-month period in late 2012.