Tory MP Peter Bone found to have exposed himself to aide trapped in hotel room
A Tory MP trapped an aide in a hotel room and exposed his private parts to him, a report revealed today.
Peter Bone faces a six-week ban from the Commons for bullying and sexual misconduct against a member of staff - paving the way for another crunch by-election. He was found to have repeatedly requested massages and thrown pens and other office equipment at his victim.
Mr Bone was ruled to have engaged in “a wilful pattern of bullying”, which “also included an unwanted incident of sexual misconduct, when the complainant was trapped in a room with the respondent in a hotel in Madrid”, Parliament's Independent Expert (IEP) Panel said. In a report today, the IEP said: “This was a deliberate and conscious abuse of power using a sexual mechanism: indecent exposure.” Mr Bone, who became notorious for asking questions of Prime Ministers on behalf of his wife Mrs Bone, was found to have “committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct” against a member of his staff in 2012 and 2013.
A panel recommended a six-week suspension from Parliament. The ban would be enough to trigger a recall petition in his seat of Wellingborough, Northants, and potentially force a by-election. The Conservatives won the seat with a 18,540 majority at the last general election.
The full 49-page report details the allegations levelled against Mr Bone, including the trip to the Spanish capital in January 2013 as part of his role as co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking The MP “booked a twin room for both of them, tried to keep the beds together, and on one occasion in the bathroom exposed his genitals close to the complainant’s face”, said the report.
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The aide had resigned shortly before the visit and was working his notice period. Mr Bone “ostracised the complainant” following their return to the UK, “ignored the complainant, refused to speak to him and ignored any work carried out by him”, said the report.
It also revealed how Mr Bone “repeatedly pressurised the complainant to give him a massage in the office (with nobody else present) on his shoulders and neck, at least six times and always with the door of the office shut and nobody else present”.
The victim “reluctantly agreed, but only because he was worried about the consequences if he did not” on one occasion in November 2012. Outlining claims of bullying, it said Mr Bone “ridiculed and belittled the complainant on a number of occasions”.
The report said that on December 10, 2012 the MP, “having sworn and shouted at the complainant, called him ‘Sensitive, you’re a strange chap’, and later said sarcastically ‘Do you want a hug?’ and then asked a colleague to give him a hug because ‘he’s feeling sensitive’.”
Mr Bone “regularly shouted and swore at the complainant”, according to the report. The victim, who kept a diary of incidents, said Mr Bone “swore and shouted in front of new intern 1st day”. On another occasion he “got incredibly angry, aggressively shouting and swearing at me, over remittances not being sent for his expenses”.
The victim was “repeatedly told to ‘shut up’ in front of staff’”, including: “Shut up! Is that clear enough?” In the second week of December 2012, the MP “verbally threatened the complainant” and on one occasion “hugged the complainant and said, ‘You’re going to wish you never said that to me’.”
Another allegation centred on physical abuse. The claim said Mr Bone “struck the complainant repeatedly, on the back of the head, back, arms and shoulders”. It went on: “He used his hand (front and back) and sometimes an object such as a pencil or rolled-up document.
“For example, on January 14, 2013, the respondent struck the complainant across the back of the head and said, ‘because you’re having a thick day and I thought that would help’. “The (MP) would tell colleagues that the complainant is ‘having a thick day, we should hit him’. “Some hits were hard, some just taps. “The respondent also repeatedly threw things at the complainant, including pens, pencils and office equipment.”
The report also detailed an “unwanted and humiliating ritual” called “hands on laps” the victim and other aides were subjected to. “When not satisfied with the complainant’s work, particularly on expenses, he would forcibly make him or require him to put his hands on his lap, sometimes hitting his hands,” said the report.
“For example, on October 2, 2012, the complainant recorded in his log that the respondent ‘physically took my hands and put them in my lap repeatedly when he got frustrated while working on his expenses in his office in Westminster’. The complainant’s log for November 21, 2012 reads, ‘Don’t think. Hands on lap’.”
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The victim complained to then Prime Minister Theresa May in November 2017 “under the Conservative Party’s code of conduct”. But four years later, in October 2021, he turned to Westminster’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme and formally withdrew his complaint to the Tory Party in August 2022 so the watchdog could investigate.
In a damning ruling, Commissioner found that:
- Mr Bone “verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” the complainant, and this was bullying.
- Mr Bone “repeatedly physically struck and threw things at” the complainant, and this was bullying.
- Mr Bone “imposed an unwanted and humiliating ritual on” the complainant, namely instructing, or physically forcing, the complainant to put his hands in his lap when Mr Bone was unhappy with him or his work; and this was bullying.
- Mr Bone “repeatedly pressurised [the complainant] to give him a massage in the office” and this was bullying, but not sexual misconduct.
- Mr Bone indecently exposed himself to the complainant on an overseas trip, initially in the bathroom of the hotel room they were sharing and then in the bedroom. The Commissioner concluded this was sexual misconduct.
The investigator found the victim’s evidence “compelling, nuanced and plausible”, says the report. In total, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld five allegations of bullying and one of sexual misconduct.
Mr Bone said today: "As I have maintained throughout these proceedings, none of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place. They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation."
The Conservative Party and the party whips have been approached for comment.
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