Long-serving Labour MP Nick Brown has had the whip removed after a complaint was made against him.
The member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne East, who has represented the constituency since 1983 and served as chief whip under every leader from Tony Blair onwards, has also been suspended from the party pending the outcome of an investigation into the claim.
According to reports, Brown, 72, said he was “cooperating fully” with the investigation but had not been told what the complaint against him concerned.
Labour last year adopted a new independent complaints process, set up after the party was criticised by the equalities watchdog over its handling of anti-Semitism allegations.
Brown told The Guardian in a statement: “There has been a complaint made about me to the Labour Party, which is under investigation.
“I am therefore under an administrative suspension from the Labour Party until the investigation is concluded.
“I’m not aware of what the complaint is. I am cooperating fully with the investigation.”
Sources told the paper that Labour’s chief whip, Alan Campbell, informed the party’s parliamentary committee, which represents MPs in their dealings with the leadership, of Brown’s suspension.
Under party rules, if an MP is administratively suspended, they have the party whip removed automatically.
Labour’s new complaints process, which was approved by vote at the last party conference, covers all protected characteristics, including race, disability and sexuality, and all forms of discrimination.
Brown is the fifth longest-serving MP in the House of Commons. He was elected chairman of the Finance Committee last year after holding several ministerial positions in the New Labour years.
He was reappointed as Labour chief whip after Keir Starmer took over the party but left in the shadow cabinet reshuffle last May.
