Lords committee recommends longest suspension of a member in recent parliamentary history
12 November 2018
The House of Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee has today recommended that Lord Lester of Herne Hill be suspended from the House of Lords until June 2022 following a finding from the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards that he breached the Lords Code of Conduct.
The Commissioner investigated Lord Lester following a complaint from a member of the public and found that Lord Lester had breached the Code of Conduct's requirement for members to act on their personal honour by sexually harassing the complainant and offering her corrupt inducements to sleep with him and that this behaviour took place in the context of his Parliamentary duties.
The committee rejected an appeal from Lord Lester to overturn the Commissioner's finding that he had breached the code.
If the suspension is agreed by the House of Lords it will be the longest suspension of a member of either the House of Lords or the House of Commons since at least the end of World War II. It is expected the House will debate a motion to suspend Lord Lester on Thursday 15 November.