BREAKING NEWS Rishi Sunak faces another by-election as Ex-Tory MP Peter Bone is kicked out of the Commons by constituents after sexual harassment case

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will face another by-election after ex-Tory MP Peter Bone was kicked out of the Commons by constituents following a sexual harassment case against him.

North Northamptonshire Council confirmed that 13.2 per cent of the electorate in Wellingborough backed a petition to recall their MP, passing the 10 per cent threshold required for a by-election contest.

The petition had been prompted after Mr Bone was handed a six-week suspension from the House of Commons in October after an inquiry found he had subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct.

The 70-year-old was found to have abused an aide more than a decade ago, including exposing himself on a business trip after booking them a shared room. 

He has been sitting as an independent after losing the Conservative whip in the aftermath of the ruling.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will face another by-election after ex-Tory MP Peter Bone was kicked out of the Commons by constituents following a sexual harassment case against him

The petition was prompted after Mr Bone was handed a six-week suspension from the House of Commons after an inquiry found he had subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct 

Mr Bone’s majority in 2019 was 18,540 – lower than the majorities overturned by Labour in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth earlier this year. 

He has held the seat for the Conservatives since 2005.

The petition officer will have now notified the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, as the seat became vacant.

Mr Bone was found to have ‘committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct’ against a staff member in 2012 and 2013.

Parliament’s behaviour watchdog, the Independent Expert Panel, upheld an earlier investigation that found he broke the MPs’ code of conduct on four counts of bullying and one of sexual misconduct.

The panel found that he had indecently exposed himself to the complainant in the bathroom of a hotel room during a work trip to Madrid.

Mr Bone has denied the allegations.

The former minister was kicked out of the Tory parliamentary party a day after the report was published on October 16.

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