In December 2023, the standards watchdog of parliament discovered that the former MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme “abused his position of power” by caressing a woman “on her left thigh, waist, and bottom inappropriately and without her consent” in one of the parliament’s bars.
The panel concluded that it would have thought about suspending Mr. Bell from parliament “for a significant period” if he had still been an MP.
Even though he was “disappointed” with the investigation’s findings, Mr. Bell, whose seat is currently held by Labour, chose not to contest them. Bell did not run for reelection in July.
In a statement, he added, “I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused the complainant and would like to clarify that I did not intend to cause any distress.”
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Following the filing of a complaint to parliament’s independent complaints and grievance process in February 2024, Daniel Greenberg, the standards commissioner in charge of looking into claims of violations of the MP code of conduct, released his conclusions.
