Labor MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has been suspended from his party after a “serious complaint” was made against him.
The Brighton Kemptown representative planned to fight again for his seat at the next general election.
But Russell-Moyle said there was “not enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take a long time”.
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The nature of the complaint is not yet clear, but Sky News understands it was made last week and an investigation is now pending.
In a statement on social media, Russell-Moyle said she believed it was a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my behavior eight years ago”.
He claimed it was a “false allegation that I fully dispute and believe was designed to disrupt the election.”
He added: “I will aim to co-operate with the inquiry process to clear my name, but will now take this opportunity to contribute to public life in different ways under what I hope will be a Labor government.”
Russell-Moyle has been MP for his seat of Brighton since 2017, serving as shadow foreign minister under Jeremy Corbyn and as shadow environment minister in Sir Keir Starmer’s first cabinet.
Before parliament closed its doors to the election campaign, he was also part of the Commons and public administration Net Zero committees.
But he gained the recognition of many members of the Chamber after revealing to his fellow deputies in a speech that he was HIV positive.
And other memorable moments saw him grab mace in the House of Commons in protest at the government’s handling of the Brexit vote.
A Labor Party spokesperson said: “The Labor Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in accordance with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
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