UK member of parliament accused of racism during drunken incident in Palace of Westminster bar

• MP Neil Coyle told a British-Chinese journalist he looked “like you’ve been giving renminbi” to a politician who received donations from a suspected Chinese spy.
• Coyle also said this MP was “paid by Fu Manchu,” the journalist claims.
• Coyle has now been banned from Parliament’s bars, sources said.

A member of parliament for the UK’s Labour party has been accused of racism after telling a British-Chinese journalist that he looked “like you’ve been giving renminbi,” the Chinese currency, to an MP who received funds from a suspected Chinese spy.

Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, made the comments to Insider’s politics reporter Henry Dyer at one of Parliament’s bars.

The pair had been discussing Barry Gardiner, another Labour MP whose relationship with lobbyist Christine Lee had come under the spotlight after she was identified by MI5 as a possible spy. Gardiner had employed her son and received donations from Lee.

During a conversation in the Strangers’ Bar inside the Palace of Westminster, Coyle said Gardiner was being “paid by Fu Manchu,” Dyer claims. The name is a reference to a fictional Asian supervillain who appeared in a series of mid-20th Century horror films which relied heavily on racist stereotypes.

The reporter challenged the MP over his use of this “Chinese trope”, and highlighted his own racial background.

Coyle responded saying, “from how you look like you’ve been giving renminbi to Barry Gardiner”, Dyer said. He subsequently apologised, although this was described as insincere by Dyer and another individual who witnessed the incident. Coyle also referenced his own relatives, who are of Chinese descent.

He left the group but later responded to a wave from the journalist by making an abusive two-fingered gesture, Dyer said.

Coyle declined to comment to Insider. However a source noted his initial apology and stressed that he would be willing to do so again. He fully accepts that the language used was “crass, inappropriate, and insensitive”, the source added.

Labour whips are understood to have spoken to Coyle, and continue to speak to him on this matter.

Dyer told Insider he initially tried to shake off his feelings, but felt increasingly uneasy about the “racist, discriminatory and unpleasant” incident.

“Encountering him in the same bar the next day, the feeling in my gut was very uncomfortable about it and that made me want to do something about it,” he said.

“It is my job to be on the parliamentary estate and going to Strangers’ [bar] is part of that job. I want to feel comfortable while I am doing that, and I want other people to feel comfortable in the same place.”

Two other individuals saw the interaction, but were not able to confirm the words used.

Speaking on the basis of anonymity one witness told Insider that during a conversation about Gardiner he noticed “it suddenly got tense — any conversation between anyone kind of stopped”. Coyle appeared “just quite inebriated”, he added, noting that the MP had made “odd” comments about the “shape of my hand” on being introduced.

Another witness said: “The first I really knew of it was the horrible atmosphere that descended and Henry said ‘that’s racist’.” 

Dyer raised a complaint about Coyle with the Speaker of the House of Commons, which was passed on to the Labour party whips and the Serjeant at Arms.

Parliamentary sources told Insider that Coyle had immediately been banned from all the bars in both the Commons and the Lords for six months. Just a day before this event occurred, Coyle had launched into a foul-mouthed tirade against a Labour aide and told a Conservative MP who intervened to “fuck off and lose some weight”, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Coyle has committed to complying fully with any and all subsequent process, including abiding by the ban, sources in parliament told Insider.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of behaviour from all our MP’s and we take any allegations of this sort very seriously.”