IF Eric Joyce was looking for support from voters in his Falkirk constituency after being questioned by police about an alleged assault in the House of Commons bar, he would not have found it.
Currently Mr Joyce, 51, is suspended from the Labour whip following the alleged assault on Tory MP Stuart Andrew .
Yesterday on Falkirk's rain-spattered streets, hundreds of miles away from where the backbench MP was held in custody over the claims in London, there was frustration and revulsion at his alleged behaviour.
Mr Joyce was returned to Westminster with a 7843 majority over the SNP at the May 2010 General Election, but his popularity is far from assured.
He has caused raised eyebrows after notching up some of the highest expenses claims in the Commons.
But the latest allegations were too much for Jim Kemp, 60, who said: "I think this kind of behaviour is entirely unacceptable. I mean, these guys [MPs] should show an example.
"They can argue, but to go violent? No. If that turns out to be the case and he isn't forced out of his position, I think he should think seriously about whether he continues."
Audrey Finn, 51, also disapproved of Mr Joyce's alleged assault. She said: "It's not right. He's in a position of trust and power in the country and this isn't something he should be seen to be doing.
Asked whether he had a future as Falkirk's MP, she responded: "Definitely not."
Linda Kidd, 58, said Mr Joyce's behaviour "was not nice" and she wondered why politicians should be drinking in the House of Commons. "He's supposed to be a pillar of the community, isn't he?" she asked.
An elderly man, a lifelong Labour voter who declined to give his name, did not think an MP should behave as Mr Joyce is alleged to have done.
He said: "If it's true, I don't think he should be an MP. That is not acceptable in my book."
Pensioner Isabella Pullar said: "They're running the country, they should be level-headed. He shouldn't have behaved like that, unless his life was threatened and he had to retaliate."
Caroline Brown added: "We don't know the full circumstances yet, but people will want to know what he thought he was doing if he acted like that.
"MPs have got a lot to live down after the expenses [scandal] and now we hear about this."
Lionel McMillan, 46, said: "MPs shouldn't do that sort of thing. They're supposed to be above us."
Alastair McPhee, 47, said: "You had riots down in England and a lot of the excuses were that MPs were getting away with getting their moats cleaned out, and the bankers too. Now you've got MPs scrapping in the House of Commons.
"Thugs will look at that and say, well if they can do it – and they're meant to be high-profile individuals – how come we're getting penalised when we do it? I don't think he's got much of a future as an MP. If you or I did that in our work, we would get sacked right away."
The Perth-born MP, who signed up as a private in the Black Watch regiment as a teenager, is one of the rare breed of soldiers-turned-MPs in the House of Commons.
He arrived at Westminster in 2000 shortly after quitting the Army amid controversy over his outspoken claims of snobbery, sexism and racism in the forces.
In the Commons, he has been a prominent commentator on defence issues and a loyal advocate of the Labour cause in numerous TV and radio appearances.
But Mr Joyce has served only briefly on the frontbenches, acting as a Northern Ireland spokesman following the 2010 election defeat until forced to resign later that year when he lost his driving licence for failing to provide a breath test.
He resigned as a parliamentary aide to defence secretary Bob Ainsworth in 2009 over Afghanistan.
He took a sabbatical from the Army to earn a religious studies degree at Stirling University and later attended Sandhurst to gain an officer's commission.
He rose to major in the Royal Army Educational Corps, but ruffled feathers when he started a magazine where services personnel could voice concerns about military life. He quit in 1999 and become MP for Falkirk West the following year.
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