Labour former Cabinet minister Liam Byrne is set to be suspended from the House of Commons after being found to have bullied a staff member during Britain’s first Covid lockdown.
A parliamentary watchdog found the Birmingham Hodge Hill MP had committed a ‘serious breach’ of Commons’ bullying and harassment rules.
They said that Mr Byrne, 51, had been ‘abusing his position of power’ and ‘ostracizing’ his employee David Barker, who has agreed to be named, while he worked in the MP’s constituency office.
This included Mr Byrne ‘ceasing personal contact with him for several months and denying him access to his Parliamentary IT account’.
It was said that the impact of Mr Byrne’s behaviour was ‘compounded by the fact’ it occurred between March 2020 and the end of July that year, during the first national lockdown.
This saw Mr Barker, who had ‘undergone a period of ill health’, be ‘physically separated from work colleagues’ and ‘uncertain of his future work status’.
Labour former Cabinet minister Liam Byrne, the Birmingham Hodge Hill MP, was found to have committed a ‘serious breach’ of Commons’ bullying and harassment rules.
It has been recommended that Mr Byrne be suspended from the Commons for two sitting days.
He has also been told to make a written apology to his former staff member, undertake training, and ‘take action to address the causes of his behaviour and weaknesses in the management of his office’.
Mr Byrne accepted the decision by a sub-panel of the Independent Expert Panel, which determines cases where complaints have been brought against MPs of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct.
In a statement, Mr Byrne said he was ‘profoundly sorry’ for the ‘distress’ caused by his ostracism of Mr Barker.
He added: ‘I have apologised in full to the individual concerned.
‘I’m incredibly grateful to the panel for recognising the genuine remorse I felt about the impact on the individual concerned, the steps I have already taken to ensure this never happens again along with the work still to do, and for concluding that I did not deliberately act to delay the investigation.
‘This has been a valuable lesson for me and one I am determined to learn as me and my team seek to offer the best possible service and voice for the residents of Hodge Hill.’
Mr Byrne was first elected as an MP in 2004 and went on to serve in the Cabinet of former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, including as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
When Labour lost power following the 2010 general election and in the wake of the financial crisis, Mr Byrne was revealed to have left a note for his incoming successor as Chief Secretary, which read: ‘I’m afraid there is no money.’
Mr Byrne later apologised over the ‘offensive’ note, which had become the basis of many Conservative attacks on Labour’s record in charge of the public finances.
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