Labour peer and former Greater Manchester MP should face suspension for bullying security guard, watchdog finds
A veteran Labour peer should be suspended for a week for angrily berating a member of security staff in behaviour that amounted to bullying, a standards watchdog has recommended.
Former Stalybridge and Hyde MP Lord Tom Pendry was 'verbally aggressive' and exhibited 'intimidating behaviour' to the security guard who had challenged an unescorted guest in Parliament, an investigation found.
The guard, who served in the Army, described being left 'physically shaken and unnerved' after the 'angry' peer challenged them and allegedly grabbed their radio during 'a little bit of a tussle'.
Lord Pendry, 87, conceded he had 'ticked off forcibly' the staff member but criticised security for 'flexing their muscles' against politicians in a manner he has not seen in his half-a-century in Parliament. Read more: Disgust over plane banner flown over the Etihad during Man City v Liverpool match "I think that normally, you know, it's like you going to the headmaster and getting the cane," he told investigators as he hit out at the 'bureaucratic' process. "That would be the end of it.
