Blundering Tories give flasher ex-MP Peter Bone £5,600 of our money by mistake

21 January 2024 , 17:30

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Peter Bone was booted out of Parliament over bullying and sexual misconduct claims (Image: PA)

Blundering Tories wrongly handed flasher ex-MP Peter Bone almost £5,600 of taxpayers’ cash when he was sacked as a minister, it can be revealed.

The veteran politician received the generous severance package after he spent just 82 days as Deputy Commons Leader under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. But now it has emerged he should never have been given the money as he was over the age of 65.

Government accounts show Mr Bone received a severance payment of £5,593 when he mysteriously was removed from his post at the end of September 2022, part-way through Ms Truss’s short time in power. The package, equivalent to three months’ pay, was actually more than the £4,986 be earned in wages in his short time in the job.

But the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 states that departing ministers are only entitled the cash if they under the age of 65. Mr Bone was 69 at the time.

Labour’s Emily Thornberry, who uncovered the severance pay blunder, said: "This government never runs out of new ways to screw up. It was bad enough that they thought Peter Bone deserved three months severance from the taxpayer for less than twelve weeks work. It was even worse when we all found out why he'd lost his job. But to hear that he wasn't legally-entitled to the money in the first place just takes the biscuit.

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Mr Bone was booted out of the Commons in December by his constituents in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, after he had been given a six-week ban from Parliament for bullying and sexual misconduct against a member of staff. A Commons sleaze watchdog found he repeatedly asked his researcher to give him massages, thrown pens at him and exposed himself when they were away on a work trip.

In one shocking incident, Mr Bone is alleged to have struck the aide on the back of his head and told him: “You’re having a thick day and I thought that would help”. The victim made a complaint to the Conservative Party in November 2017, but after four years it had still not been resolved so he turned to the parliamentary authorities to investigate in October 2021.

Mr Bone was appointed by Mr Johnson as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons in July 2022 even though he was subject of the probe. Parliament's Independent Expert (IEP) Panel ruled that Mr Bone had 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”.

Following his suspension, a by-election was triggered after his constituents backed a recall petition. Mr Bone’s partner Helen Harrison has been selected as the Tory candidate and he has been canvassing for her. She has said she’s “proud” to have him as part of her campaign team.

Ms Thornberry added: “I hope the people of Wellingborough will send a message on February 15 that they are sick of the incompetence, sick of the waste, and sick of this government. They have a chance to vote for change with Labour, and this mind-blowing mistake shows it can't come fast enough."

The Cabinet Office declined to comment.

John Stevens