Veteran MP Nick Brown suspended from Labour Party
- Published
Nick Brown MP has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into a complaint.
He is one of the party's longest-serving MPs but will now sit as an independent until reinstated.
The Newcastle upon Tyne East MP says he doesn't know the nature of the complaint but was co-operating with the investigation.
Mr Brown served as chief whip under five Labour leaders including Tony Blair, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.
His suspension from Labour Party membership will lead to the automatic precautionary suspension from the Parliamentary Labour Party in accordance with party rules.
Mr Brown was first elected as an MP in 1983 and went on to serve as a minister between 1997 and 2010.
Last year, Labour adopted a new complaints process, set up in the wake of controversy over anti-Semitism allegations.
A 2020 Equalities and Human Rights Commission report into how the claims were handled recommended that the party put in place "long-term arrangements for independent oversight of the complaint handling process".
Party members backed creating this new system at its annual conference in 2021.