Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins has been suspended from the party “on the basis of allegations received”, a spokesman said.

Withdrawing the party whip from the veteran MP for Luton North comes as Westminster is engulfed by the fall-out from the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, which yesterday saw Defence Secretary Michael Fallon quit.

The Labour Party did not specify what the allegations were concerned with. A spokesperson said: “On the basis of allegations received by the Labour Party today, Kelvin Hopkins has been suspended from party membership, and therefore the Labour whip, while an investigation takes place.

“The Labour Party takes all such complaints extremely seriously and has robust procedures in place to deal with them.”

Earlier this week, Sir Michael apologised over an incident 15 years ago in which he made unwanted advances to the journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer, placing his hand on her knee.

HuffPost UK understands Sir Michael quit because he couldn’t guarantee there would not be another story about contact with a female journalist.

The current scandal embroiling Westminster stems from the multiple allegations against Harvey Weintsein that began to emerge last month.

More than 30 women have come forward to accuse the movie mogul of varying degrees of sexual assault, harassment and rape, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan and Cara Delevingne.

Since then similar accusations have been made of prominent figures in a number of industries, including politics.

Labour MP Jared O’Mara was suspended from the Labour Party last week after he was revealed to have posted homophobic and sexist comments online.

Earlier this week, a former aide to Labour MP Liz Kendall, Bex Bailey, revealed that she was raped during a party event – but was discouraged from reporting the assault.