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Lee Anderson MP is to apologise in Parliament for swearing at a Palace of Westminster security officer.
The Reform Member of Parliament for Ashfield was appealing against the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards decision after an unidentified security officer made a complaint on Parliament’s hotline after the November 3, 2023 incident. As a report by a panel that heard the appeal set out, the officer complained that Anderson:
twice verbally insulted the complainant [โฆ], who was on duty as a Security Officer. After instructing the complainant to open the door and allow the respondent access to the Parliamentary Estate, the complainant asked to check the respondent’s pass. The respondent replied, ‘Fuck off, everyone opens the door to me, you are the only one’. The complainant again explained he would need to check the respondent’s pass. The respondent then approached the complainant and said, ‘Fuck you, I have a train to catch’, before walking out of the search post.
The panel noted Anderson gave โchallenging personal circumstances which affected him on the day of this eventโ and accepted that his behaviour, although unacceptable, was not planned or premeditated. It also noted that Anderson now accepted the Commissionerโs findings and the impact of his conduct on the complainant ‘unequivocally’. In an August email Anderson had maintained it was ‘just two grown men having a difference of opinion’, complained the case was ‘simply some CCTV footage without any sound’, and felt an interview under the Standards process was ‘very unfair’ โ ‘it felt to me that the investigating officer had already made his mind up’.
As for timings, while the officer made his complaint the day of the incident, an investigator only made his report in June; and the Commissioner referred the disputed case to a panel in August. The Commissioner concluded that Andersonโs behaviour constituted bullying, and harassment, in breach of policy.
Background
While Anderson was for decades a Labour local politician in Nottinghamshire, it was as a Conservative MP that he was elected in the ‘red wall’ election of December 2019. He was hailed by Reform as their first member of parliament when he defected to them in March; and was elected again at the July 4 general election.
For the 17-page panel report visit the UK Parliament website.
