Anti-Senedd Tory MP facing Commons suspension over ‘insincere apology for bullying’

An anti-Senedd MP is facing a one-day suspension from the House of Commons after being investigated by an anti-sleaze watchdog.

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski is facing the sanction after being found to have broken the rules over an apology he gave for bullying parliamentary staff.

He previously served as a parliamentary aide to former Welsh Secretary David Jones, despite representing Shrewsbury and Atcham over the border.

The MP has been a vocal opponent of devolution and in 2020 called for the Senedd to be scrapped after complaining that Covid-19 restrictions were preventing him from going to the beach.

However, the closest beach to Shrewsbury, both by distance and travel duration, is in the Wirral rather than Wales.

The recommendation to suspend him has been made by the Commons Standards Committee and follows comments the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham made before he said sorry last June.

He was found to have acted in a “threatening and intimidating manner” towards the complainants after he was unable to join a committee hearing because of technical problems.

‘Failed to comply’ 

But the committee found that interviews he gave with BBC Radio Shropshire and the Daily Mirror before he made the required statement in the Commons meant he had failed to comply as the apology was not “unequivocal”.

In the latest report published today, the committee said that Mr Kawczynski’s actions caused significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons.

The report states that: “Although he says he was sincere by the time he made the apology to the House, he had effectively undermined the sincerity of that apology by broadcasting the fact that he was making it because he was required to do so and he disagreed with the way the case had been conducted.

“Mr Kawczynski also broke confidentiality requirements about the content of the report before it was published and identifying complainants’ job descriptions on nine occasions in his radio interview.”

The committee also said that his actions had also undermined the ICGS (Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme) and risked causing further harm to the complainants in his original case.