Another by-election looms for Rishi Sunak after MP Peter Bone loses Willingborough seat in recall petition

A by-election will take place in Wellingborough after 13.2% of the electorate backed a petition to recall MP Peter Bone, North Northamptonshire Council has confirmed. The Wellingborough MP was suspended from the Commons for six weeks in October after an inquiry found he had subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct.

He is sitting as an independent after losing the Conservative whip. The six-week process of the recall petition, which was prompted by his suspension, closed at 5pm on Tuesday (December 19).

Mr Bone, who has held the seat for the Conservatives since 2005, was found to have “committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct” against a staff member in 2012 and 2013.

Parliament’s behaviour watchdog, the Independent Expert Panel, upheld an earlier investigation that found he broke the MPs’ code of conduct on four counts of bullying and one of sexual misconduct. The panel found that he had indecently exposed himself to the complainant in the bathroom of a hotel room during a work trip to Madrid.

Mr Bone has denied the allegations. The former minister was kicked out of the Tory parliamentary party a day after the report was published on October 16.

The upcoming by-election comes after Sunak suffered a double by-election blow in October as Labour overturned huge Tory majorities in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire, leaving Labour on course for a major victory in the next general election.