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 su.
