** Natalie Elphicke, Sir Roger Gale and Theresa Villiers** will be suspended for trying to influence legal proceedings involving ex-MP Charlie Elphicke.
Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire argued the ban should be moved to next Monday.
But the government defended its timing, saying it had followed recommendations from Parliament’s standards watchdog.
Ms Elphicke, Sir Roger and Ms Villiers were among five Conservative MPs who sought to interfere in a decision regarding Elphicke, the former MP for Dover, who was convicted last year of sex offences.
The government proposed the motion setting it for this Friday, when the Commons’s only scheduled task is to scrutinise bills put forward by backbench MPs. No government business will be debated on that day.
Ms Debbonaire, shadow leader of the Commons, said: “Friday is a sitting day, yes, but it’s not the same as missing an entire day. It’s not a Monday. It’s not a day that any of these members are going to lose their right to question ministers or table questions.”
She added that there was no precedent for MPs to be suspended on a Friday and that many members were “unlikely to be here anyway”.
For the government, deputy chief whip Stuart Andrew said: “It is always regrettable when such a motion is before the House.” He added: “This motion endorses the recommendations of the committee and proposes that [the MPs]… be suspended from the service of the House for one sitting day.”
The motion was passed unopposed.
Charlie Elphicke was convicted in July last year of sexually assaulting two women. An appeal against his two-year prison sentence was rejected in March this year.
During his trial the court heard how Elphicke groped one of his accusers, chased her around his house, and sang “I’m a naughty Tory, I’m a naughty Tory.”
Tories … 