Rob Roberts has had an eventful time since being chosen by the good people of Delyn to represent them in Parliament in 2019. In the past fifteen months he has been the subject of allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct made against him by not one, but two, ex parliamentary staffers. Stripped of his party whip in May, like Banquo at the feast, he continues to embarrass his former Tory colleagues by infrequently emerging in the Commons to lob softball questions from the government benches.
But now, with Roberts being forced to deny Steerpike’s reports of a staffing crisis, Mr S can at last bring some good news for the onetime financial planner. The Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg is set to table a motion this afternoon on the Independent Expert Panel’s recommendations on the sanctions and the Recall of MPs Act 2015. The legislation was introduced to make provision for constituents to be able to recall their MP and hold a by-election – useful, perhaps, if your man in Westminster has faced accusations of inappropriate behaviour.
Under the act, a recall is triggered by the Speaker of the House of Commons if an MP is suspended from the House for at least 10 sitting days or 14 calendar days, following a report by the Committee on Standards. However while Roberts was suspended in May for six weeks, his case was judged by parliament’s Independent Expert Panel rather than the Committee on Standards. This anomaly allowed Roberts to dodge a by-election, with Rees-Mogg pledging to review the scope of recall and claiming that the Welsh representative should resign regardless.
But Mr S understands that while today’s motion will ensure in future that those suspended for bullying and harassment for a certain length of time can be subject to recall, Roberts will not face retrospective punishment on the grounds that he is thought to have already been punished through the existing independent system. A Labour amendment to the motion today on Roberts facing retrospective action is not expected to succeed which means that he won’t face a by-election for the allegations made against him – enabling him to carry on his seat until the next election which could be as far away as 2024.
Looks like the honourable member for Delyn has more lives than Larry the Cat.
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