MP LOUT OF ORDER
BOOZY 6ft 9in TORY BLAMES HEIGHT FOR BULLYING STAFF
BRITAIN’S tallest MP has blamed the stress of being 6ft 9in for his booze-fuelled bullying of staff.
Tory Daniel Kawczynski told two IT workers who failed to connect him to a committee meeting they were “useless” and part of “the snowflake generation”.
Kawczynski told a disciplinary hearing he lost his temper partly because his height made him “conspicuous” and he came “under repeated attack” from the public. But a report branded the
Shrewsbury and Atcham MP, who had consumed a “significant amount of alcohol” on the day he abused the IT staff in April 2020, “grossly unprofessional”.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone ruled he was “intimidatory and threatening”, then “abused his power” by making “untruthful comments” about them. He was found to have been “repeatedly rude, aggressive and impatient” with the pair and other staff.
The MP apologised “unreservedly” in the Commons and said that his “inexcusable” behaviour “constituted bullying”.
Yet he also claimed in an interview he had “no alternative” but to apologise and that he would face sanctions if he refused.
GOING BALD: Former Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten blamed his long-term affair with a male sex worker on going bald. After news of the scandal broke in 2006, he wrote an essay for a newspaper where he claimed losing his hair triggered a mid-life crisis that in turn led to his affair.
He said: “For me it was a sign that my youth had ended.”
WATCHING BADGERS:
Known for his 1998 “moment of madness” when he was mugged at knifepoint in gay cruising area Clapham Common, former Labour Party MP Ron Davies was caught again five years later when he was photographed lurking in another sex spot. He insisted he was in Tog Hill, near Bath, to watch badgers.
ONLY HUMAN: Conservative Whip Bill Wiggin was caught out claiming £11,000 in phantom mortgage payments in 2009 during the expenses scandal. He received it to cover the mortgage on his constituency home in Hertfordshire over a two-year period – but was not paying a mortgage on the property. He begged for forgiveness, claiming it was a mistake and that he is “only human”.
TUCKING SHIRT: US politician and lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared in 2020’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. He was invited to an interview with Borat’s “daughter” Tutar (played by Maria Bakalova) in her hotel room and proceeded to lie on her bed and reach inside his trousers. He was interrupted by Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) who said: “She 15, she too old for you”. Giuliani claimed the accusation was a “complete” fabrication, saying he was “tucking in his shirt”.
GOING UNDERCOVER: In 1978, Florida congressman J. Herbert Burke was arrested after being drunk and disorderly in a strip club. He said he’d been tipped off that two drug dealers were working at the venue and he went undercover to observe their illegal activities. This excuse didn’t impress a judge, who sentenced him to a fine and probation, nor his voters as he lost his seat the following year. The incident inspired the 1996 Burt Reynolds film Striptease.
TICKLE FIGHT: Former New York Congressman Eric Massa faced allegations that he had sexually harassed a male member of his staff in 2010. But Massa insisted the incident was merely a “tickle fight”. He said: “I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me.” He went on to resign, later admitting he had made the mistake of “getting too familiar with my staff”.