Peter Bone

Peter William Bone FCA (born 19 October 1952) is a British former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wellingborough from 2005 until his removal in 2023.

He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Islwyn in the South Wales valleys at the 1992 general election against the then Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock.

[14][circular reference] Bone was chosen for the previously safe Conservative seat of Pudsey in West Yorkshire following the retirement of the veteran MP Giles Shaw at the 1997 general election, but lost following a swing of 13.2% to Labour's Paul Truswell.

[12] In March 2009, Bone was one of the key speakers opposing the use of the House of Commons by the UK Youth Parliament, having been appointed one of the Tellers.

[22][circular reference] Bone proposed a bill in July 2013, arguing that the August Bank Holiday should be renamed to Margaret Thatcher Day to commemorate her premiership.

[25] In February 2014, The Times newspaper reported that Bone had been under investigation by the police during the previous 12 months relating to an alleged £100,000 fraud concerning benefit payments of care home fees for his mother-in-law.

[31][circular reference] In February 2018, following the announcement that Northamptonshire County Council had brought in a "section 114" notice, putting it in special measures following a crisis in its finances, Bone was one of seven local MPs who released a statement arguing that the problems with the authority were down to mismanagement from the Conservative councillors who led it rather than funding cuts from the Conservative government.

[36] In June 2018, Bone defended fellow Conservative MP Christopher Chope after he was widely criticised for blocking a private member's bill to make it illegal to take photos of people aimed up their skirts.

He voted for Liz Truss to be the new Conservative leader and was part of her transition team, but was sacked from his ministerial role after she became prime minister.

[44][42] That led to an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who upheld the five allegations relating to bullying and harassment, and one of sexual misconduct by Bone.

[42] Bone denied the allegations in the report via a post on the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), stating the claims listed were "false and untrue" and "without foundation".

[55] On 31 October, following his suspension from the House of Commons and the Conservative whip, Bone was reported to have been campaigning with government minister Tom Pursglove.

[65] In 2013, Bone was one of four MPs who camped outside Parliament in a move to facilitate parliamentary debate on what they called an "Alternative Queen's Speech" – an attempt to show what a future Conservative government might deliver.

[29][66] Forty-two policies were listed including reintroduction of the death penalty and conscription, privatising the BBC, banning the burka in public places, and preparation to leave the European Union.

In September 2019, Bone said that a general election would be a "good thing" and a necessary step in order to establish a "Conservative government with a majority" and prevent a no-deal Brexit.

[68] Bone said that Boris Johnson would be an "excellent prime minister and get a proper Brexit deal and lead us to victory in the next general election".

[73] Bone primarily lives in London, but also owns a flat in the Denington Estate (formerly John Lea School site) in Wellingborough.

In March 2022, a man from Wellingborough pleaded guilty to three malicious communications offences of sending abusive and offensive messages to Bone's office phone relating to the government's Covid-19 restrictions, and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.