Hotel row Llanelli AM Keith Davies faces Labour action

Labour AM Keith Davies has been censured by the assembly and faces further action from his party for his drunken conduct at a hotel.

AMs unanimously endorsed a report by the cross-party standards committee which said Mr Davies had brought the assembly into disrepute.

He apologised for his behaviour in a statement to the Senedd on Wednesday.

Sources have told BBC Wales that the Labour Party will take further steps against the Llanelli AM.

Staff at the five-star St David's Hotel in Cardiff were abused after he returned in the early hours with a female guest after a night out last month.

Mr Davies and the mystery woman got back to the five-star hotel at 4:45 BST on 24 April after he had been celebrating the birthday of a political lobbyist.

In the Senedd chamber, Mr Davies, 71, said he accepted the standards committee report in its entirety.

The married father-of-two apologised to fellow AMs, assembly staff, staff at the hotel, his constituents "and in particular my family for the public shame that has followed nationally and locally".

Assembly rules mean AMs can only be suspended for breaching standards of conduct in relation to financial or other interests. Mr Davies' breach was "in relation to personal conduct".

The standards committee is separately considering the sanctions available as part of an on-going review. Any recommendations will be brought before the assembly for consideration in due course, it says.

Mr Davies was first elected to the assembly last May taking back Llanelli for the Labour Party from Plaid Cymru by 80 votes.

He has faced strong criticism for his conduct in the pages of his local paper The Llanelli Star.

The presiding officer, Rosemary Butler, has denied there is a drinking culture among AMs.

In a letter to standards committee Mr Davies admitted he was "adversely affected by alcohol" and that his behaviour fell short of the conduct expected from an AM.

He was entitled to stay at the hotel at taxpayers' expense, but has since settled the bill himself and written to the hotel to apologise.

Mr Davies qualified as a teacher before becoming a school inspector and subsequently became director of education for the former county of Mid Glamorgan, and Carmarthenshire. He is a governor of two schools.