Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has been suspended from his party after a “serious complaint” was made against him.

The representative for Brighton Kemptown had been planning to fight for his seat again in the upcoming general election.

But Mr Russell-Moyle said there was not “enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take too long”.

Politics live: PM not worried about ‘grim’ polls for Tories

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 social media statement, Mr Russell-Moyle said he believed it to be a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my behaviour eight years ago”.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

He claimed it was a “false allegation that I dispute totally and I believe it was designed to disrupt the election”.

He added: “I will aim to cooperate with the investigations process to clear my name, but will now take this opportunity to contribute to public life in different ways under what I hope is a Labour government.”

Mr Russell-Moyle has been an MP for his Brighton seat since 2017, serving as a shadow foreign minister under Jeremy Corbyn and as a shadow environment minister is Sir Keir Starmer’s first cabinet.

Before parliament shut its doors for the election campaign, he also sat on both the Commons’ Net Zero and the public administration committees.

But he gained recognition from many across the House after revealing to his fellow MPs in a speech that he was HIV positive.

And another memorable moments saw him seize the mace in the Commons in protest over the government’s handling of Brexit votes.

A spokesperson for Labour said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

Related posts:

Liz Truss gets foreign secretary as two of four top jobs go to women Priti Patel orders review of laws surrounding crossbow ownership Government under pressure to further reduce self-isolation period to ease pressure on the NHS Christmas parties, home decorating and illicit affairs: The year in political scandals Student loan repayment freeze deemed ‘tax rise by stealth’ by IFS ‘Another leftie lawyer’: Sunak accuses Starmer of trying to stop action against small boat crossings Major National Grid changes needed to prevent UK missing key wind power targets Ofcom investigating episode of Rees-Mogg’s GB News show Great crested newts mean Boris Johnson’s plan to build a pool isn’t going too swimmingly Banks accused of closing accounts belonging to British Muslims BBC defends appearance of director general at 1922 committee of Tory MPs Sunak says ‘more to do’ to bring down migration as he comes under pressure from cabinet