The friend claimed he was innocent at the time, but subsequently pleaded guilty. Yesterday Doyle issued a lengthy statement apologising. Given that Doyle's peerage was announced in December, and that he took his seat in early January after the details of his friendship with Sean Morton had been made public Labour's decision to remove the whip yesterday looks like a move timed to minimise the dangers from this issue being raised at PMQs.
This is totally surreal. Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch have gone through the motions of a Prime Minister's Question session before the Budget. In response to questions from the Conservative leader, the prime minister said that it's "literally 25 minutes" until the measures will be unveiled. Not so. The Budget is already out there, thanks to the Office for Budget Responsibility, which has published the details in error.