2024 Wellingborough by-election
15 February 2024
Wellingborough constituency
Boundary of the Wellingborough constituency in Northamptonshire
MP before election

Peter Bone
Independent

 Elected MP

TBD

A by-election will take place on Thursday 15 February 2024 in the UK Parliament constituency of Wellingborough following a recall petition held in late 2023 that removed the incumbent MP Peter Bone under the terms of the Recall of MPs Act 2015, triggered by his six-week suspension from the House of Commons. A by-election in Kingswood will take place on the same day.

Constituency

Wellingborough is a county constituency in the East of Northamptonshire, and contains the settlements of Wellingborough, Rushden, Higham Ferrers, Irchester and Finedon.

Created in 1918, the Wellingborough constituency was considered a bellwether from the late 1960s to the 2000s. It has been a Conservative-held seat since Bone’s election in 2005, and considered a safe seat since 2010. The seat is estimated to have voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum by a margin of 64% to 36%.[1]

Recall petition

Background

An employee of MP Peter Bone made a complaint through the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme in October 2021.[2][3] That led to an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who upheld five allegations relating to bullying and harassment, and one of sexual misconduct.[4]

Bone appealed against the findings and the recommended suspension, which were both upheld, and so a report to the house was made by the Independent Expert Panel on 16 October 2023 recommending his suspension for six weeks.[3]

The panel's report found Bone had "committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct" against a male member of his staff.[5][6] The report stated that, having booked a single room for the two of them on a work trip in 2013, Bone had "dropped his towel and exposed his genitals close to his employee's face" while they were in the bathroom,[7] and went on to expose himself to the complainant in their shared bedroom. Following that trip, Bone ostracised the complainant.[3] Bone was also found to have pressured the man into massaging him when they were alone in the office, and to have thrown objects or struck him on a number of occasions.[7][4]

Bone denied the allegations in the report, stating the claims listed were "false and untrue" and "without foundation". He also said that the investigation by the IEP was "flawed" and "procedurally unfair".[8][9]

On 17 October, the Conservative Party withdrew the whip, suspending him from his membership of the Parliamentary Conservative Party.[10][11]

Following a vote on 25 October, Bone was suspended from the House of Commons for six weeks.[12] The length of his suspension automatically triggered a recall petition in his constituency.[13]

Petition process

The petition was open for signatures from 8 November to 19 December 2023. During this period registered voters in the constituency were able to sign at one of nine designated petition signing places between 9am and 5pm Monday–Friday, with extended signing hours on 13 November. Voters registered for postal or proxy ballots could also sign by these means. The total number of electors entitled to sign the petition was 79,046, with the threshold for a successful recall determined to be 7,904 signatures.[14]

The recall petition was successful, with 10,505 signatures (13.2% of the electorate), exceeding the 10% signature requirement. Bone reacted to the outcome of the petition by calling it "bizarre" as the majority of eligible petitioners did not sign the petition.[15] He is permitted to stand in the resulting by-election.

Campaign

The recall petition closed as the Commons rose for its Christmas recess.[16] The writ of election for this and the Kingswood by-election were moved on 11 January 2024,[17] and later that day the date of 15 February 2024 was announced.[18]

Candidates

Labour selected charity worker Gen Kitchen to stand in November 2023, from a shortlist of two.[19][20]

The Liberal Democrats selected care home worker Ana Savage Gunn, a former Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Northamptonshire.[21]

The Green Party selected Will Morris, an insurance underwriter and parish councillor.[22]

On 7 January 2024, the Conservatives selected Helen Harrison, who represents Oundle ward on North Northamptonshire Council[23] and was the party’s candidate in Bolsover at the 2017 general election. She is the partner of Peter Bone,[24] and The Times had reported that Bone was trying to help his partner become the candidate, with the threat of standing as an independent against the Conservatives if she were not selected.[25]

Reform UK reportedly had discussions with Bone regarding him standing for re-election as their candidate.[26] However, on 3 January 2024 the party chose its co-deputy leader Ben Habib.[27]

On 9 January, former Northamptonshire Police officer and Irchester parish councillor Kevin Watts announced he was running as an independent.[28]

Britain First have announced they will stand a candidate in this by-election.[29]

Previous result

2019 general election: Wellingborough[30]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Bone 32,277 62.2 +4.8
Labour Andrea Watts 13,737 26.5 –7.5
Liberal Democrats Suzanna Austin 4,078 7.9 +4.6
Green Marion Turner-Hawes 1,821 3.5 +1.7
Majority 18,540 35.7 +12.3
Turnout 51,913 64.3 –2.9
Conservative hold Swing +6.15

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Seat Details - Wellingborough". Electoral Calculus. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  2. ↑ Gibbons, Amy (16 October 2023). "Tory MP Peter Bone exposed himself to staffer in Madrid hotel room". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Conduct of Mr Peter Bone MP" (PDF). UK Parliament. The Independent Expert Panel. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 Mitchell, Archie (16 October 2023). "Tory MP 'exposed himself to staff member and trapped him in hotel bathroom'". Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Stacey, Kiran (16 October 2023). "Tory MP Peter Bone hit and abused staff member, watchdog says". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "Independent Expert Panel recommends suspending Peter Bone MP for bullying and sexual misconduct". UK Parliament. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  7. 1 2 Stacey, Kiran (16 October 2023). "Tory MP Peter Bone hit and abused staff member, watchdog says". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ Bone, Peter [@PeterBoneUK] (16 October 2023). "Below is my statement on the publication of the IEP report today" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ↑ "Peter Bone: Tory MP facing suspension after bullying probe". BBC News. 16 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "Peter Bone suspended as Tory MP after bullying probe". BBC News. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  11. ↑ Brown, Faye (17 October 2023). "Peter Bone: Tory MP kicked out of parliamentary party after bullying and sexual misconduct allegations". Sky News. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  12. ↑ "Commons business 25 October 2023".
  13. ↑ "MP Peter Bone suspended from Commons for bullying". BBC News. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  14. ↑ "Recall petition – Wellingborough constituency". North Northamptonshire Council. Archived from the original on 25 December 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  15. ↑ "Peter Bone MP loses seat as recall petition triggers by-election". BBC News. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  16. ↑ "Peter Bone: How Wellingborough ended up with a by-election". BBC News. 20 December 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  17. ↑ "Two by-elections officially called following scandal and resignation from Tory MPs". Sky News. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  18. ↑ "Date of Wellingborough by-election announced". North Northamptonshire Council. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  19. ↑ Quinn, Ben; Badshah, Nadeem (19 December 2023). "Voters in Wellingborough trigger byelection after suspension of Peter Bone". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  20. ↑ Cronin, Kate (11 November 2023). "Wellingborough Labour members select Genevieve Kitchen as their candidate to fight Peter Bone's seat at a potential by-election as she immediately calls on him to resign". Northamptonshire Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  21. ↑ "Lib Dems choose candidate for Peter Bone MP's seat". BBC News. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "The candidates set for Wellingborough by-election". BBC News. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  23. ↑ "Councillor Helen Harrison". North Northamptonshire Council. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  24. ↑ Baker, Tim (7 January 2024). "Disgraced ex-Tory MP Peter Bone's partner chosen to run as his replacement in Wellingborough by-election". Sky News. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  25. ↑ Yorke, Caroline Wheeler and Harry (7 January 2024). "Peter Bone's plan for girlfriend to replace him — or risk splitting Tory vote". Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  26. ↑ Chaplain, Chloe (29 December 2023). "Reform and Peter Bone plot to cause upset in the Wellingborough by-election". i. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  27. ↑ McGovern, Eimear (3 January 2024). "Ben Habib announces election candidacy after NI kept him in 'political arena'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  28. ↑ Payne, Josh (9 January 2024). "Wellingborough by-election – new candidate announced". Northamptonshire Telegraph. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "The candidates set for Wellingborough by-election". BBC News. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  30. ↑ "Wellingborough Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
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