MP Eric Joce suspended after assaulting in the House of Commons Bar

6:47pm UK, Thursday February 23, 2012




MP Eric Joyce has been suspended by the Labour Party after
being arrested on suspicion of assault after an alleged fight in a bar
in the House of Commons.


A spokesman for the party said the suspension would be maintained until a police investigation into the incident was completed.


Sources said the decision was taken by Labour leader Ed Miliband.


Bar staff, who were on duty on Wednesday evening, were interviewed at
Belgravia Police Station Police on Wednesday afternoon, and police
began interviewing MPs, who were present during the incident, in the
House of Commons in the evening.


Police are understood to have been called to Strangers Bar in the Commons at about 11pm on Wednesday.


Stuart Andrew, Conservative MP for Pudsey, has alleged he was assaulted and headbutted by Mr Joyce, MP for Falkirk.


He told Sky News he received a "bloody nose" and intends to press charges.


MPs say several people tried to intervene in the alleged incident,
including Labour whip Phil Wilson, who witnesses told Sky News was seen
with blood on his shirt.


A Labour source alleged Mr Joyce went "beserk".













Stuart Andrew was allegedly assaulted in Parliament's Strangers bar




It is understood Mr Joyce was handcuffed in the bar and taken to a "cell" in the House of Commons.


The glass in a door to this room is currently broken.


Scotland Yard confirmed officers detained a man in his 50s. He is
currently being held in custody at a central London police station.


Commons Speaker John Bercow said the incident would be taken seriously but called on MPs not to discuss it in the Chamber.


"Members will be aware of reports of a serious incident in the House last night," he said.


"I have been informed by the Serjeant at Arms that the honourable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody.


"The matter is being investigated. I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities," he added.


Mr Joyce, the MP for Falkirk since December 2000, served in the Army Education Corps before pursuing a career in politics.


In 2010, he resigned as shadow Northern Ireland minister after pleading guilty to failing to provide a breath test.


From 2003, Mr Joyce served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to a number of government ministers.


Mr Joyce quit as the PPS to Bob Ainsworth in 2009 due to his concerns over the war in Afghanistan.


Prior to that he had been a parliamentary aide to John Hutton,
including the period when he was defence secretary, Mike O'Brien and
Margaret Hodge.








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Apparently the fracas was serious , one MP had blood on his shirt, a window was broken and Joyce even assaulted the Police who tried to calm the
situation. He has been in the Police station since last night, first of all he refused to have a Solicitor but has now changed his mind.

Tomorrows sensational headline.......................




There's me thinking there all a bit nuts.

It's the new man in Dawn's life who interests me Lioned.........can't you show us a close-up of that pic.?

I suppose the "Strangers" bar is quite fitting .....although they might change it to "Brawlers Bar" after this episode.

a"[color=blue]]It's the new man in Dawn's life who interests me Lioned.........can't you show us a close-up of that pic.?

I suppose the "Strangers" bar is quite fitting .....although they might change it to "Brawlers Bar" after this episode. [/quote]

Try this link..........

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=dawn+french+new+man&hl=en&biw=1064&bih=854&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=mYmu6NjEE7f9EM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4147604/New-Dawnnew-fella.html&docid=ww3-ac-fWlGpqM&imgurl=http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01458/061f95f5-532_1458083a.jpg&w=532&h=664&ei=xcpGT_2CO6LK0QX4q-CrDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=668&sig=111234424387908161203&page=1&tbnh=166&tbnw=132&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=52&ty=82

Eric Joyce MP Charged With Common Assault

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Eric Joyce has represented Falkirk since 2000





5:48am UK, Friday February 24, 2012




MP Eric Joyce has been charged with three counts of common assault after an alleged fight in a House of Commons bar.


The 51-year-old MP for Falkirk had already been suspended by the Labour Party until the investigation was completed.


Staff at Strangers Bar who were on duty on Wednesday evening were
interviewed at Belgravia police station on Wednesday afternoon.


Officers began interviewing MPs who were present during the incident, in the House of Commons in the evening.


It is understood police were called to Strangers Bar in the Commons at about 11pm on Wednesday.


Commons Speaker John Bercow has asked MPs not to discuss the incident in the Chamber.


"Members will be aware of reports of a serious incident in the House," he said.


"I have been informed by the Serjeant at Arms that the honourable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody.


"The matter is being investigated. I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities."


Mr Joyce, the MP for Falkirk since December 2000, served in the Army Education Corps before pursuing a career in politics.

Not only a brawler but knows how to spend our money.

Here are some snips:


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-news/2012/02/25/eric-joyce-to-escape-by-election-as-bosses-would-rather-have-a-nutter-than-a-nat-86908-23764364/

Any MP receiving a jail sentence of less than a year can continue to serve in Parliament, even though the party whip is removed.
That means that Joyce, if he is convicted, could continue to draw his £65,738 salary, expenses and pension contributions as an independent MP until the next general election, due in 2015.
Activists in the Falkirk Labour party, who are due to meet tomorrow, have tried on a number of occasions to deselect Joyce – who became MP in 2000 – as their candidate. But he has always managed to survive.

What we paid
THE cell walls of Belgravia police station, where Eric Joyce was held for almost 24 hours, would have looked familiar.
It would have reminded him of November 2010, when he pleaded guilty to failing to provide a breath specimen on a drink-driving charge in Falkirk.
He resigned as shadow Northern Ireland minister as a result but few shed a tear.
He was unpopular among MPs and many of the people of Falkirk, particularly when they discovered how much he had been claiming in expenses.
In fact, Joyce was frequently No1 in the list of House of Commons expenses claimants.
For the 2005-6 parliamentary session, he claimed £174,811 in expenses.
He made a public pledge to cut his expenses and, for a year, he did move down the list of top claimers to 11th place.
But he was back at the top in the 2007-8 Parliamentary session with a whopping claim of £187,334.
He became Britain’s most expensive MP with cumulative claims breaking the £1million mark.
Last year, he became the first to claim more than £200,000. Joyce has never apologised for this and in October 2007, he faced down his expenses critics on Newsnight Scotland.
Asked if it was necessary to claim £180 for three oil paintings which hung in his Falkirk surgery, Joyce replied he had used taxpayers’ money on them “because they look nice”.
Being Scotland’s most expensive MP didn’t put Joyce off using other perks.
Also in 2007, he used air miles built up while spending £30,000 on ­parliamentary business to arrange for his children’s au pair to fly home, business class, for a family Easter reunion in Slovakia.
He was one of Westminster’s top flippers – who “flipped” their main and second homes for tax purposes.
Under the old expenses system, the mortgage for MPs’ second homes in London or their constituency was paid by us.
When it came to selling the second property, usually to make a profit, MPs could declare that the second home was their main residence – avoiding capital gains tax on the profit of the sale.
Several prominent MPs were caught up in the expenses scandal by “flipping” the designation of their second homes.
In May 2009, Joyce was in negotiations with HM Revenue and Customs over £40,000 in unpaid capital gains tax on the sale of his London home.
He had designated it as his second home, not his main residence, under the Second Homes Allowance scheme.
The house had been bought in September 2001 for £249,950 and was sold in August 2007 for £383,000.
In recent years, amid problems with his marriage, Joyce had become the focus of concern over his drinking.