Aaron Bell, a former Conservative MP, has been reprimanded by Parliament’s standards watchdog for sexual misconduct described by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) as “brazen and drunken”. The ex-MP was found guilty of inappropriately touching a woman on her waist, thigh, and bottom without her consent in one of the Parliament bars in December 2023. The IEP said that if Bell were still an MP, it would have considered suspending him from Parliament for a significant period.
Bell resigned as MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme earlier this year, citing personal and family reasons. Responding to the IEP’s report, Bell expressed disappointment but said he would not appeal the findings. He apologized for any upset caused to the complainant and acknowledged that he had let down the loyal members of his association who supported him during his tenure as MP. Bell further apologized to the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme, whom he considered it an honour to serve.
The investigation into the complaint against Bell commenced in February 2024 and upheld after interviews with the complainant, eyewitnesses, and Bell himself. In his defense, Bell claimed to have been drunk and consequently could not recall everything about the evening. He claimed that mutual flirting led him to touch the complainant, but the commissioner for standards believed that the respondent’s description of the alleged mutual flirting was “too general to be persuasive and would not justify touching without specific consent”.
The parliamentary commissioner for standards noted that Bell had abused his position of power over the complainant, and the level of misconduct was accentuated by the MP’s age, position of authority, and his role as an assistant government whip. Bell’s sexual misconduct, which was both brazen and drunken, was considered more serious as the level of threat was increased. He had won the former Labour stronghold of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire in the 2019 parliamentary election and had served in the whip’s office from November 2023 until July 2024
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