Former Swansea West MP Geraint Davies has challenged the Labour Party’s account of the disciplinary process that ended his 22-year parliamentary career — saying the party “could have provided me with a hearing” before the 2024 election “but chose not to.”
His comments respond to a Labour statement carried by Swansea Bay News last week, in which the party set out why no hearing took place before candidate nominations closed.
Mr Davies represented Swansea West from 2010 to 2024. He had previously been MP for Croydon Central in London from 1997 until losing the seat in 2005, before returning to Westminster five years later in Swansea — a city where, he has said, his family has lived for five generations.
He was suspended by Labour in June 2023 over anonymous allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women — claims he denied, which did not involve criminal conduct, and which were never tested at a hearing. He sat as an independent MP while the investigation continued.
In late May 2024, days after the general election was called, he confirmed he would not stand — saying at the time he was “disappointed that I have yet to have a Labour Party hearing and the opportunity to clear my name.”
Responding to his account earlier this month, a Labour spokesperson said the party “assesses all complaints thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”
“Any suggestion that a case would be delayed for political reasons is strongly denied,” they said.
It was also understood the party had proposed expediting Mr Davies’s case in February 2024, which he declined, and that a hearing proposed for 19 May 2024 did not go ahead because his lawyer was unavailable.
Mr Davies has now disputed how both points have been framed.
He said the February proposal was for a “paper-only” hearing, with no physical or oral attendance, which he declined because he wanted to question the complainants — who, he said, had “put forward no corroborated evidence.”
He said that once the election was announced on 22 May 2024, he then proposed a paper-only hearing himself, in the two weeks before nominations closed on 7 June — but that the party refused.
“Shockingly, on May 23, in a reversal of their position, the Labour Party then refused a paper-only hearing, saying they wouldn’t do so for political expediency,” he said.
“The Party has now confirmed that all testimonies were in place for a full hearing on May 19 — but still refused a paper-only hearing between May 22 and June 7.”
“The Labour Party could have provided me with a hearing then but chose not to. This denied me the opportunity to be re-elected as the Swansea West MP — and freed up a second South Wales seat for London parachutists.”
Torsten Bell — now Pensions Minister — was selected as Labour’s Swansea West candidate by the party’s National Executive Committee rather than the local party, a decision that drew criticism from local activists at the time. Alex Barros-Curtis, Labour’s then executive legal director, who oversaw the complaints process, was later selected for the vacant Cardiff West seat. Both were elected in July 2024.
Mr Davies has consistently argued it is “difficult not to conclude” that the objective of the process was “to ensure that I did not stand for re-election” — a suggestion Labour strongly denies.
Since this article was first published, Labour has gone further in rebutting that suggestion, giving its fullest account yet of the process — on background, as the party does not comment publicly on disciplinary matters.
It is understood the complaints were examined by an independent investigator, and that both the investigator and the party’s National Executive Committee found there was a case to answer.
It is understood the party amended its usual complaints process in Mr Davies’s case to speed it up, knowing an election could be called at any time — and that Mr Davies added to the delays by asking for more time to file his evidence.
On the collapsed hearing of 19 May 2024, the party’s position, it is understood, is that it could still have gone ahead before the election was called on 22 May had Mr Davies instructed alternative counsel when his own was unavailable.
Once the election was called, it is understood all disciplinary hearings were suspended as party staff moved onto the campaign — and, with Mr Davies ineligible, a Swansea West candidate had to be selected at short notice.
Mr Barros-Curtis was approached for comment when Swansea Bay News first reported the story, and did not respond.
Updated 13 July: this article has been updated to include the Labour Party’s response.
