Why Was Neil Coyle Suspended From The Labour Party?

A Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, Neil Coyle has been suspended by the Labour Party over alleged racist comments.

Reports revealed that MP Coyle had made racist comments to a political journalist, Henry Dyer, during an incident in a Commons bar.

Mr. Dyer, who is of British-Chinese heritage, says Mr Coyle made a racially insensitive remark during a conversation in the Strangers’ Bar about Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP who received funding from a suspected Chinese spy.

Mr. Dyer said the racial slurs made him feel uncomfortable. He then proceeded to make a formal complaint about the MP to the parliamentary authorities.

He says he “gently pushed back at Coyle about this” but the MP suggested he was being “over-sensitive”.

“I responded by saying that I am British-Chinese, to which Coyle responded that he could tell, “from how you look like you’ve been giving renminbi [the Chinese currency] to Barry Gardiner.”

Mr Dyer says as he left the bar later that evening he waved at Mr Coyle to “defuse the tension” but the MP responded by “putting two fingers up at me”.

Following his suspension, Mr Coyle apologized saying: “I am very sorry for my insensitive comments”

He said he had “apologised to everyone involved” and would be cooperating with the investigation.

Accordingly the chief whip has now suspended the Labour whip from Neil Coyle pending an investigation.

Neil Coyle is a British Independent politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Bermondsey and Old Southwark since 2015, having been elected as a member of the Labour Party.

He previously served as a member of Southwark London Borough Council from 2010 to 2016.