A SENIOR peer found to have offered a woman “corrupt inducements” to sleep with him could be suspended from the Lords for a record four years.
Barrister Lord Lester of Herne Hill sexually harassed a woman in the course of his parliamentary duties, according to a committee investigation.
Fellow peers will now decide whether to hand down the longest suspension in the house’s history.
The move would keep the 82-year-old from the benches until 2022.
It follows a recommendation that he be expelled altogether, something denied because that power was not in place when the “dishonourable” conduct is understood to have happened 12 years ago.
The Thursday vote follows a probe triggered by a complaint by an unidentified woman to Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, the Lords Commissioner for Standards. She said she had been presented with “strong and cogent” evidence by the accuser.
The Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee said: “We endorse the conclusion of the commissioner that in respect of that conduct Lord Lester of Herne Hill breached provisions of the code in failing to act on his personal honour by sexually harassing the complainant and offering her corrupt inducements to sleep with him.”
Lester – the former LibDem spokesperson on human rights – resigned the party whip in February over the complaint.
Calling the claims “completely untrue”, he said: “I produced evidence which clearly demonstrated that what I was said to have done 12 years ago did not happen.
“Independent counsel who previously advised the committee on its procedures provided an advice which concluded that the investigation was flawed.
“I regret the committee’s conclusions in the light of these materials.
“There has to be a fair process for investigating sexual harassment claims in Parliament.
“Parliament is supposed to be a bastion of the rule of law but has ignored calls to reform this procedure properly for 20 years.”
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