UK Labor MP faces suspension over staff bullying – POLITICO

LONDON – A British Labor MP is suspended from the House of Commons for two days and will offer a written apology after Parliament’s Standard Guard found he had bullied a former staff member.

Liam Byrne, cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s Labor government, “outlawed” a then-member of his constituency’s staff for a period of months and blocked access to his emails, according to the Standards Commissioner.

The commissioner concluded that Byrne has engaged in “malicious conduct which involved a material abuse of power” – findings endorsed by the independent panel that deals with the most serious allegations of misconduct against MPs.

David Barker, who agreed to be named in the panel’s report, said he felt “humiliated” in front of his colleagues and “deliberately alienated” from his former boss.

Accepting the panel’s conclusions, Byrne said in a statement that his behavior “caused distress that I am deeply sorry for,” emphasizing his “sincere regret at the impact on the individual affected.” The MP added he had apologized to Barker.