Neil Coyle | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Member of Parliament forBermondsey and Old Southwark | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Simon Hughes |
| Majority | 7,787 (20.7%) |
| Member ofSouthwark London Borough Council forNewington | |
| In office 6 May 2010 – 22 March 2016 | |
| Preceded by | James Gurling |
| Succeeded by | James Coldwell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1978-12-30)30 December 1978 (age 46) Luton,Bedfordshire, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Education | Bedford School |
| Alma mater | University of Hull (BA) |
| Website | neilcoyle |
Neil Alan John Coyle (born 30 December 1978) is a BritishLabour politician who has served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forBermondsey and Old Southwark since2015.
Coyle has at times been the subject of debate during his time in parliament, after being accused of being abusive to constituents,[1] racist tojournalists,[2] and guilty of bullyingLabour parliamentary staff.[3] He has apologised for his conduct and been open about his battle withalcoholism. Coyle was suspended by Labour and banned from Parliament's bars for six months. He had the whip reinstated in May 2023.[4] Since 2023 Coyle has pledged to beteetotal.
Neil Coyle was born on 30 December 1978 inLuton. He grew up inLuton and is one of six children. He went to Wenlock andAshcroft schools before receiving a full scholarship toBedford School, anindependent school for boys founded in 1552.[5] He received a BA in British Politics and Legislative Studies from theUniversity of Hull.[6] From 2001 to 2003, he lived in China.[6]
Coyle was elected as a councillor for Newington ward in the2010 Southwark London Borough Council election.[7] As a councillor, he supported the unsuccessfulGarden Bridge project, on which his wife worked as a landscape architect and a fact about which he was open.[8] He was deputy mayor of Southwark from 2014 to 2015.[6] He stood down as a councillor in 2016.[9]
At the2015 general election, Coyle was elected to Parliament as MP forBermondsey and Old Southwark with 43.1% of the vote and a majority of 4,489.[10][11] He was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominateJeremy Corbyn as a candidate in theLabour leadership election of 2015.[12] Following his election, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.[13]
Following theMay 2016 elections, he co-wrote an article withJo Cox which said that they had "come to regret" the decision of voting to makeJeremy Corbynleader of the opposition.[14] After the article was published, Coyle resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary.[13] He then supportedOwen Smith in his unsuccessful attempt to replaceJeremy Corbyn in the2016 leadership election.[15] Coyle was highly critical of Corbyn and wrote a series of articles arguing against his position on several key issues, such as terrorism andBrexit.[16][17]
In the 2016referendum on the UK leaving the European Union (EU), Coyle campaigned to remain.[18]
In February 2017, Coyle was one of 47 Labour MPs who defied the party'sthree-line whip to vote against triggeringArticle 50 for the UK to leave the EU[19] and has called for it to be revoked.[20] Coyle sits on theWork and Pensions Select Committee.[21]
At the snap2017 general election, Coyle was re-elected as MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark with an increased vote share of 53.2% and an increased majority of 12,972.[22][23]
He chairs theAll-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Wines and Spirits, the secretariat for which is provided by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, which is based in Coyle's constituency.[24] He also chairs the APPG for Foodbanks, which he established in 2017,[25] as well as those for Ending Homelessness and Counter Extremism.[26][27]
In February 2019, Coyle said that he had declined an invitation to join The Independent Group, laterChange UK, a splinter group of centrist Labour andConservative MPs that formed that month.[28]
Coyle was again re-elected at the2019 general election with an increased vote share of 54.1% and an increased majority of 16,126.[29]
In May 2021, Coyle reported Corbyn to theParliamentary Commissioner for Standards, claiming that Corbyn had failed to declare full legal funding.[30] The Commissioner did not uphold the complaint, noting there was no requirement to register legal support from a membership organisation.[31]
On 11 February 2022, as a result of controversial statements by Coyle, the Labourwhip was suspended from him and he was barred from all bars on theWestminster estate.[32][33] Coyle also had his Labour Party membership administratively suspended, pending an investigation.[34] In May 2023, he was readmitted to the Labour Party.[35]
At the2024 general election, Coyle was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 44.8% and a decreased majority of 7,787.[36]
Coyle has been criticised for his use of language in public on a number of occasions. In September 2019, Coyle referred to Prime MinisterBoris Johnson on British television as "a dick".[37] Following the incident, Coyle spoke with theSouthwark News, saying his constituents had complained about his use of language, suggesting he does not "need to be that crude". Coyle told theSouthwark News, "I will be toning down the language but never the passion".[38]
During the2019 Labour Party Conference, Jeremy Corbyn made aBrexit statement that the Labour Party would not be immediately backing either leave or remain. Many Labour MPs voiced their concerns, but Coyle went a step further by describing Corbyn's stance as "bullshit".[38]
Coyle again received media coverage after a day of strongly worded statements in theHouse of Commons. Labour MPs and their leader, Corbyn, were critical of Boris Johnson's use of language, including when Johnson suggested that the best way to honourJo Cox was to deliver Brexit.[39] Journalist and presenterPiers Morgan then tweeted about the use of Jo Cox's name, saying "Parliament has reached a new low on all sides. Disgraceful". Coyle replied on Twitter in several posts, telling Morgan to "go fuck yourself", while also calling him a "sick little man" and a "scrote".[40]
On 25 August 2020, in a now deleted tweet, Coyle wrote, "I have spent years warning local people that these fat old racists won't stop blaming the EU when their shit hits the fan. Here they come blaming others. Absolute shitbag racist wankers". This was in response to a tweet by fellow parliamentarianJacob Rees-Mogg, who had criticised the BBC's decision to omit the traditional singing of "Rule, Britannia" which ordinarily took place during the final evening of theProms. Coyle followed this tweet up with a further tweet, referring to the song: "If you didn't hate it before, feel free to hate the song now. I've never known anyone but shitlickers like it tbh".[41] Coyle later apologised for his tweets.[42]
Later in 2020, Rees-Mogg accusedUNICEF of a political stunt after it announced that for the first time in its 70-year history it would be providing food parcels to children in deprived areas of London prior to Christmas. Rees-Mogg said that UNICEF was "playing politics when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived countries in the world, where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars". Rees-Mogg was branded a "Scrooge" by Coyle, who invited Rees-Mogg to visit Coyle's constituency, one of the affected areas.[43]
On 31 January 2022, Coyle was involved in a swearing fit at a Labour aide in a Westminster bar following a disagreement about the effects of Brexit and told a Conservative MP who intervened to calm the dispute to "fuck off and lose some weight".[44][45]
In early February 2022, Coyle was accused of makingSinophobic remarks on 1 February to Henry Dyer, a political reporter ofBritish-Chinese origin.[46] It was reported Coyle said to Dyer that he could tell "from how you look like you've been givingrenminbi toBarry Gardiner", following the latter'sreceiving funds from an agent of the Chinese state. According to Dyer, while discussing Gardiner, Coyle also said he had been funded by "Fu Manchu".[44] Consequently, on 11 February, Coyle had the Labourwhip suspended pending an investigation and was banned from all bars on theWestminster estate.[32][33]
Dyer said Coyle refused to apologise when he confronted him, with Coyle asking him, "if it was just the case that [Dyer] was being over-sensitive".[46] After the incident was made public and reported to the Speaker of the House, Coyle apologised[47] for his "insensitive comments" and said he would be cooperating with the investigation. Coyle faced calls to resign.[48]
In July 2022, Coyle said he drank a lot because working as an MP is stressful.[49]
In March 2023, Coyle was found to have breached Parliament's bullying and harassment policy and was suspended from the Commons for five days.[50] Coyle had the Labour whip suspended from February 2022 to May 2023.[50] Coyle later claimed £295 in expenses for equality training. Labour MP Kim Johnson strongly criticised Coyle for charging taxpayers in his effort to make amends for his abusive behaviour. She raised the question of whether he is genuinely committed to learning from his mistakes.[51]
In March 2023, it was revealed that Coyle had a sexual harassment complaint upheld against him as a Labour MP.[52] Coyle made derogatory remarks about the partner of a young woman and asked her if she was "going back with me or him tonight then?"[52]
Coyle married Sarah Lindars in 2014.[6] His wife is a landscape architect and they have one daughter.[53] Coyle has written about the impact on his family of his mother's mental ill-health.[54]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBermondsey and Old Southwark 2015–present | Incumbent |
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