Neil Coyle apologises for “insensitive comments” after accusations from a British Chinese journalist.
Image source, PA Media
MP Neil Coyle has been suspended by the Labour Party after allegations he made racist comments.
Political journalist Henry Dyer has made a formal complaint to the parliamentary authorities about the MP.
Mr Dyer, who is of British-Chinese heritage, says Mr Coyle used racial slurs and made him feel uncomfortable at an incident in a Commons bar.
Following his suspension, Mr Coyle said he was “very sorry for my insensitive comments”.
He said he had “apologised to everyone involved” and would be cooperating with the investigation.
A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of behaviour from all our MPs and we take allegations of this sort very seriously.
“Accordingly the chief whip has now suspended the Labour whip from Neil Coyle pending an investigation.”
Writing on the Business Insider website, Mr Dyer said the MP made a racially insensitive remark during a conversation in the Strangers’ Bar about Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP who received funding from a suspected Chinese spy.
Mr Dyer claims Mr Coyle used a racial stereotype, a comment the journalist says “struck me at the time as not right”.
He says he “gently pushed back at Coyle about this” but the MP suggested he was being “over-sensitive”.
In a statement, the East and South East Asians for Labour group praised Mr Dyer for “speaking out”.
“No one should face racism in the workplace especially in Parliament which should be setting the highest example for the rest of the country”.
Mr Coyle has been banned from the bars on the parliamentary estate pending the investigation by Labour.