MPs suspended over sexual allegations still have access passes to Westminster

Two former MPs who were suspended from the Labour party over sexual allegations are still enjoying full access to parliament through ‘category X’ passes.  

Simon Danczuk and Ivan Lewis are among 242 ex-members who have unescorted access to Westminster despite no longer having a seat in the House of Commons. 

Danczuk was suspended in 2015 over allegations that he sent explicit text messages to a 17-year-old girl.

He resigned two years later on the grounds that Labour had fallen into the hands of the ‘far left’ and the frontbench was ‘continually obsessing about Karl Marx’. 

The former Rochdale MP used his pass on six days last year and three in the year to date, data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows.  

In 2016, he was ordered to repay £11,583.20 by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority after admitting an expense claims ‘error’.

Danczuk now describes himself as an ‘author, speaker and business consultant’ on his Facebook profile. 

He said: ‘I resigned from the Labour Party in 2017 because it was being led by a far left north London Labour elite – this is a matter of public record. The expenses investigation to which you refer was extremely flawed and if I had my time again I would refuse to pay the money back.’ 

Ivan Lewis, who was suspended in 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment, is another former member who still has access to Westminster, using his pass once this year and once in 2023.

The then MP for Bury South was suspended after a woman told BuzzFeed that he touched her leg and invited her to his house during a Labour party event seven years earlier when she was 19.  

At the time, he strongly denied sexual harassment but said he was ‘genuinely sorry’ if he had made any woman he worked with to feel awkward by asking them out ‘for drinks or dinner, or developed strong feelings for them’. 

Lewis resigned from Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in 2018 in a letter accusing the then leader of failing to act over anti-semitism and ‘Jew hatred’. He said that he had been suspended for 12 months despite having not been interviewed with an ‘unnecessary and politically motivated delay’ to the disciplinary process. 

In emails to Metro.co.uk, the former MP said that he had been ‘completely exonerated’ by an independent investigation into the complaint conducted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.  

He added: ‘Therefore, there is no reason I should not hold an ex-MP’s pass.’ 

Damian Green, who was sacked from Theresa May’s cabinet in 2017 after a Cabinet Office report found he had breached the ministerial code, also appears in the list.  

Green was found to have made ‘inaccurate and misleading’ statements over what he knew about claims that pornography was discovered on his office computer almost a decade earlier.

At the time, he denied that he had either downloaded or viewed pornography on a computer which had been removed from his Commons office.  

Green has been added to the list after failing to win back his Ashford seat in the May General Election, with the data showing he has used his pass three times up to the end of August.

David Ruffley, who received a police caution in 2014 for a common assault on his former partner, is also a passholder.

Ruffley was the Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds before standing down in the 2015 General Election.  

In a letter sent to his local Conservative association confirming that he would not stand, he apologised for what he said was a ‘very regrettable incident’ and said a ‘protracted media debate’ about his private life would not be in the best interests of the party.  

Ruffley made one visit this year and another in 2023, the data released by the House of Commons after a request by Metro.co.uk shows.  

Peter Lapham, who campaigns against serving MPs and Lords having second jobs, said: ‘Every employer I’ve ever known operated the policy that if you were suspended then any pass you had, whether it was a building or computer pass, was voided by the IT department with the hour.

‘When I worked as a civil servant you had to sign the Official Secrets Act and, no doubt, you were bound by other laws, too.  

‘Regardless of your standing or position, if you were suspended you had to hand in any passes or keys. I can’t see why this isn’t the same for MPs as they are civil servants, too, and therefore, bound by the same laws and principles in the service of the public.’ 

In total, former MPs accessed parliament on 1,041 days over 2023 and the current year up to August 24, the dataset shows.  

Alistair Burt, the former Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire, was the most frequent holder, making 31 visits over the timeframe.  

Ex-MPs who have served more than two parliamentary terms or six years — whichever is longer — may apply for a Former Member Pass.

The Commons maintains that holders have limited, unescorted access to the parliamentary estate, including certain areas for meetings and some catering facilities during specified hours. 

In 2023, an investigation by Peter Geoghegan, author of the best-selling book Democracy for Sale and the Substack newsletter of the same name, found that many passholders were lobbyists, including for the nuclear industry, the gambling lobby and the gas boiler industry.

Geoghegan told Metro.co.uk that the system of providing passes to former MPs is ‘the very opposite of open government’. 

‘There a huge transparency black hole when it comes to former MPs using the parliamentary estate,’ he said.

‘Suspended ex-MPs can use their X passes with impunity but the public is not allowed to know anything about this.

‘It’s the very opposite of open government.’  

The Commons maintains that passholders are required to follow a clearly advertised behaviour code while on the estate, with the rules normally being the responsibility of the Administration Committee. 

A spokesperson said: ‘Processes are in place to ensure applications for former members passes can only be made by those who meet the criteria.

‘There are limits on the facilities former members may use within parliament and they are forbidden from using their pass in connection with lobbying activity.’  

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