Cameron Thomas was arrested on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour and assault

Further information about the arrest of the Liberal Democrat MP Cameron Thomas have emerged today.

BBC News quotes a statement from Gloucestershire Police:

"On Wednesday, a man in his 40s from Tewkesbury was arrested on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour and assault.

"The man was interviewed by officers before later being released on police bail."

That report also quotes a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats:

"Cameron Thomas MP has had the party whip suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation.

"Allegations of this nature are extremely serious, and it is important that the police are able to investigate properly.

"We are unable to comment further while the police investigation is ongoing."

Thomas has been the MP for Tewkesbury since the 2024 general election.

Liberal Democrat MP suspended from party after arrest

From the Guardian website this evening:

A Liberal Democrat MP has had the whip suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation, a party spokesperson said.

Cameron Thomas was arrested by Gloucestershire police on Wednesday night, it is understood. His office has been contacted for comment.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said the party was unable to comment further while an “investigation is ongoing”.

Thomas’s party membership is also understood to have been suspended.

The former RAF officer has served as MP for Tewkesbury since the 2024 general election.

This is credited to the Press Association and appears to be all the information that is publicly available at present.

Later. The Guardian has added to its story, but none of the new material appears relevant to his arrest.

Westminster Hall debate on Russian influence on British politics

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On Monday there was a Westminster Hall debate on Russian influence on UK politics and democracy, occasioned by a public petition that gained the required 100,000 signatures.

Allowing such petitions to trigger debates seems a worthwhile experiment, though the one demanding that MPs who change parties should be forced to resign and fight a by-election seems to me misconceived. Don't party whips have enough power as it is?

But it's worth reading the transcript of the debate on Russian interference. Several Liberal Democrats MPs took part – here's Cameron Thomas:

The breadth and depth of Russian influence is so vast and so dangerous to our democracy that no single political party has either the credibility or capacity to fully investigate it. Only a judge-led statutory public inquiry will suffice. The Government have the responsibility to deliver; the future of our democracy requires that they do so.

The House of Commons Library produced a briefing for the debate which is worth a look too.

The belligerent youths are back: The sacking of Christine Jardine

When Christine Jardine was sacked as the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson Women and Equalities and on Scotland, some bright spark briefed the press that:

"We are not in the business of dancing to the tune of the Conservatives through symbolic votes and virtue signalling."

Simon Titley used to talk of the "belligerent youths" who surrounded Nick Clegg. Judging by that statement, they're back under Ed Davey.

Christine Jardine was universally regarded as an effective front-bench spokesperson, and to lose her over what has been called "an arcane procedural matter" - she voted against an appalling Conservative amendment she had been told to abstain on - is poor leadership.

Nor was her vote a matter of "virtue signalling", for reasons she explained in her dignified resignation letter:

As you know, my late husband Calum, was bipolar. Several people around me have mental health conditions the amendment dismissed as ‘minor’, and not worthy of support. I could not in good conscience do anything other than vote against another Conservative attempt to remove help from those who need it the most. Regardless of my personal circumstances, as Equalities Spokesperson, this is an equalities issue and I could not let down those who are relying on people in power to speak on their behalf. The expression of support I have had from members of the public, the membership and members across the House, has reassured me the choice I made was right, and I am content with that.

Some of the other Liberal Democrat MPs who voted against the amendment will have had equally personal reasons for doing so. There were eight: Lee Dillon, Andrew George, Rachel Gilmour, Tom Gordon, Wera Hobhouse, Freddie van Mierlo, Manuela Perteghella and Cameron Thomas.

I do wonder why it was so important for the Liberal Democrats not to be seen to oppose punitive action against people who are sick or have a foreign national in the family. Are their plans to change party policy in an unwelcome direction? 

I've no idea, but already I hear of rumblings of discontent in the parliamentary party and in constituency parties over Christine's sacking.

And to the belligerent youth who briefed the press about "virtue signalling"... 

The Conservatives are His Majesty's Opposition. They're meant to have some influence over the agenda of the Commons. If they had a halfway-competent leader, they would have rather more.

Eight Liberal Democrat MPs have been barred from Russia

The Putin regime has banned 15 British MPs from entering Russia, accusing them of making "hostile statements and unfounded accusations". And eight of those 15 are Liberal Democrats.

Our congratulations go to: Alistair Carmichael, Chris Coghlan, Will Forster, James MacCleary, Helen Maguire, Mike Martin, Manuella Perteghella and Cameron Thomas.

Helen Maguire, the party's defence spokesperson, told Politics Home:

"I will wear this retaliatory sanction as a badge of honour - as will my Liberal Democrat colleagues also placed on Moscow’s blacklist."

Six peers have also been sanctioned by Moscow, among them the Lib Dems Jeremy Purvis and Julie Smith.