Wellingborough MP Peter Bone loses seat after 10,505 people sign recall petition

Voters in the Wellingborough constituency have thrown out sitting MP Peter Bone and triggered a by-election after enough signatures were added to a petition to oust him.

The six-week process came to a dramatic end this evening when signatures on the six-week petition reached the threshold of 7,940 – representing the 10 per cent needed.

Moments after petition officer Adele Wylie informed the Speaker of the House of Commons, giving him notice the Wellingborough seat had become vacant, the announcement was made public.

Of the 79,402 registered electors in the constituency, 13.2 per cent signed the recall petition, 10,505 people, with 82 rejected signing sheets.

The date for the by-election will be determined by the Conservatives – Mr Bone’s party – even though Mr Bone had been forced to sit as an independent.

If he chooses Mr Bone is allowed to stand as a candidate in the upcoming by-election and, theoretically, he could be reselected to stand as MP for Wellingborough by local Tories.

House of Commons procedure will next see The Conservative Party move a ‘writ’. There is no statutory time limit for when this should occur but the writ cannot be moved during Parliament’s Christmas recess holiday – members of the House of Commons return on January 8, 2024.

There are certain circumstances where a writ can be moved during a recess, but these do not include a successful recall petition.

If a general election is called within six months of the result, the by-election will not take place.

Why did Peter Bone face the recall petition?

On October 16, the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) published a report on Peter Bone MP.

A complaint was made about Mr Bone under Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme. Following an investigation by an independent investigator, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld five allegations of bullying and one of sexual misconduct relating to his conduct towards a former staff member in 2012 and 2013.

Mr Bone appealed this decision to the IEP. That appeal was dismissed by the IEP sub-panel appointed to consider that case. Mr Bone denies the incidents took place and has criticised the investigation.

The Commissioner found that Mr Bone had ‘verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated’ the man and ‘repeatedly physically struck and threw things’ at him.

It was also found that Mr Bone instructed or physically forced the complainant to put his hands in his lap and ‘repeatedly pressurised the complainant to give him a massage in the office’.

Another allegation found proven by the Commissioner was that, on an overseas trip, Mr Bone ‘exposed his genitals close to the complainant’s face’.

On October 25, the House of Commons approved a motion suspending him for six weeks, triggering a recall petition. He returned to Parliament on December 5, sitting as an independent.