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Lib Dems will take no action against Lord Rennard over harassment claims Lib Dems will take no action against Lord Rennard over harassment claims
(about 11 hours later)
The Liberal Democrats will not take any disciplinary action against Lord Rennard, the party's former chief executive, who was accused of sexually pestering women. Liberal Democrat women who accused Lord Rennard of sexual harassment have criticised their party for not taking disciplinary action against the former chief executive and allowing him to return to his job of helping to write Nick Clegg's 2015 election manifesto.
Alistair Webster, a QC appointed to look at the evidence as part of a disciplinary process, found that the peer ought to apologise and commit to changing his behaviour, which may have caused "distress" to women, but that there was not sufficient evidence that he had acted in a sexually inappropriate way. Rennard has always vigorously denied acting inappropriately towards the complainants. An internal inquiry said Rennard ought to apologise and commit to changing his behaviour, which may have caused "distress" to at least 10 women by violating their personal space. However, it found there was not sufficient evidence that he had acted in a sexually inappropriate way to bring any disciplinary charges.
"In my opinion, the evidence of behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the complainants was broadly credible," Webster said in a statement. "However, it is my judgment, considering all of the evidence collected, that it is unlikely that it could be established beyond reasonable doubt that Lord Rennard had intended to act in an indecent or sexually inappropriate way. Without proof of such an intention, I do not consider that such a charge would be tenable." After the conclusion of the review, Rennard, who has always vigorously denied acting inappropriately towards the complainants, said he was looking forward to returning to his roles in the party. These include a seat on the party's federal policy committee, which will write the party's 2015 manifesto, and a place on the Lib Dem benches in the House of Lords.
The decision marks the end of investigations into Rennard, after police last year dropped their inquiries into the allegations made by several female party members. Two of the women who complained about Rennard expressed their disappointment on Wednesday. Ali Goldsworthy, a Welsh activist who spoke out on Channel 4 News last year, accused the party of cowardice and said she is taking legal advice.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has admitted that the party did not listen properly to the complaints at the time. An independent report by Helena Morrissey, a businesswoman, also found the deputy prime minister had been wrong not to launch a formal inquiry at the time of the allegations in 2008. "They have failed to say Lord Rennard's behaviour is unacceptable, they have failed to discipline him and therefore have failed to give victims the justice they deserve," she said. . "Since this news became public, people from across the political spectrum have approached me to say they too had been a victim of someone abusing a position of power. Today's verdict, and failure to take action, sends the message that this behaviour can go unpunished.
However, Webster said he had considered evidence from all the witnesses and found it was not appropriate to charge Rennard with acting in a way that had brought the party into disrepute, which could have led to him being expelled from the party. Now more than ever, the political parties must match their rhetoric with action. Women should not be afraid to speak up, and good men should not be afraid to support them. I stand by my previous statement and am taking legal advice."
"It is my view that Lord Rennard ought to reflect upon the effect that his behaviour has had and the distress which it caused and that an apology would be appropriate, as would a commitment to change his behaviour in future," he added. Alison Smith, now an Oxford University politics tutor who also complained about his behaviour, said Rennard should "absolutely not" return to the federal policy committee and the party needed "new procedures, and fast".
The lawyer stressed that he was not finding that the evidence of the complainants was unreliable, and said the evidence suggested Rennard's behaviour had caused distress to a number of women. He also discounted suggestions made during the investigation that the incidents had been invented as part of a political campaign against Rennard. She said: "The Liberal Democrats have much soul searching to do. They orchestrated a cover-up for many years to avoid dealing with the serious and numerous allegations against Lord Rennard."
In response, Tim Farron, the party president, said the Liberal Democrats would look again at its disciplinary procedures and said the party believed that Rennard did not behave in an appropriate way for a chief executive. Last night two other women who accused Lord Rennard of sexual impropriety were furious at the decision of the Liberal Democrats not to discipline him.
Bridget Harris said she would tear up her Liberal Democrat membership card.
She told Channel 4 News: "They know what happened, we know we're not lying, and so we've ended up with a situation where the party has said it is acceptable for somebody like Lord Rennard to have done the things that we are claiming that he has done. It's acceptable to still have him as a member of the party.
"For me that's not good enough. And it's not good enough for me to carry on being a member of that party."
Alison Goldsworthy said Clegg and party president Tim Farron "could have been a lot stronger and faced with the option of taking a difficult decision and pushing it forward to disciplinary action, or not doing anything, they took the cowards way out and chose not to do anything."
Harris later said the deputy prime minister had apologised to her and he was "flabbergasted" by the situation. She told BBC 2's Newsnight: "I spoke to Nick earlier on this evening personally, he called me and apologised and I take that completely sincerely.
"He apologised for the fact that the party has found itself in a situation where its rules have been found to be completely over the top and Byzantine and inadequate to deal with the kind of complaints that myself and the other women have had about Lord Rennard."
She added: "I heard Tim Farron speak earlier and Nick Clegg said this to me as well, they are flabbergasted that essentially we are in a situation where a man … where the allegations and the evidence have now been thoroughly tested and have actually been found to be credible, so nobody is suggesting that they think we are lying."
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy PM, called on Rennard to apologise and "reflect on his behaviour". He also insisted the peer will not be playing any campaigning role in the run-up to the general election.
"It's clear in the report that a number of women in the Liberal Democrats were subject to behaviour by someone who had a position of considerable authority that caused them real distress," Clegg said. "That should not have happened. And I as leader of the Liberal Democrats want to apologise to each and every one of those women again."
However, comments issued by Rennard made no mention of any apology to the women and emphasised that this was now the end of all investigations into allegations about his behaviour, as the police dropped their inquiries last year.
"My wife Ann and I are very grateful to our families and many friends both inside and outside the Liberal Democrats who have shown unwavering support throughout," he said.
"I now look forward to resuming my roles within the Liberal Democrats. I remain committed to the same values which made me join the Liberal Party as a teenager more than 40 years ago."
The Liberal Democrat investigation was carried out by Alistair Webster QC, who found it was not appropriate to charge Rennard with acting in a way that had brought the party into disrepute., which could have led to his expulsion expelled from the party.
"In my opinion, the evidence of behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the complainants was broadly credible," Webster said in a statement. "However, it is my judgment, considering all of the evidence collected, that it is unlikely that it could be established beyond reasonable doubt that Lord Rennard had intended to act in an indecent or sexually inappropriate way. Without proof of such an intention, I do not consider that such a charge would be tenable."
He added: "It is my view that Lord Rennard ought to reflect upon the effect that his behaviour has had and the distress which it caused and that an apology would be appropriate, as would a commitment to change his behaviour in future."
The lawyer stressed that he was not finding that the evidence of the complainants was unreliable, and said the evidence suggested Rennard's behaviour had caused distress to a number of women.
He also discounted suggestions made during the investigation that the incidents had been invented as part of a political campaign against Rennard. Tim Farron, the party president, said the Liberal Democrats would look again at its disciplinary procedures and said the party believed that Rennard did not behave in an appropriate way for a chief executive.
"The Liberal Democrats have taken the allegations made against Lord Rennard extremely seriously, which is why we appointed an eminent and experienced QC to examine the evidence. As a party we have no choice but to accept Alistair Webster QC's conclusions, but that does not mean I am content," he said. "Lord Rennard is not a current employee of the party and therefore the threshold that must be met for disciplinary action is higher than if this was a company HR procedure. In Alistair Webster QC's view, that threshold was unlikely to be met."The Liberal Democrats have taken the allegations made against Lord Rennard extremely seriously, which is why we appointed an eminent and experienced QC to examine the evidence. As a party we have no choice but to accept Alistair Webster QC's conclusions, but that does not mean I am content," he said. "Lord Rennard is not a current employee of the party and therefore the threshold that must be met for disciplinary action is higher than if this was a company HR procedure. In Alistair Webster QC's view, that threshold was unlikely to be met.
"While this process has not found to a criminal standard of proof that Lord Rennard acted with indecent intent, it is clear that he did not behave in the way that a chief executive should behave. Lord Rennard must reflect on his actions and apologise to the women involved.""While this process has not found to a criminal standard of proof that Lord Rennard acted with indecent intent, it is clear that he did not behave in the way that a chief executive should behave. Lord Rennard must reflect on his actions and apologise to the women involved."
Farron added: "These allegations prompted the party to take a long, hard look in the mirror. The Liberal Democrats are, and must always be, a party where everyone is treated with respect."Farron added: "These allegations prompted the party to take a long, hard look in the mirror. The Liberal Democrats are, and must always be, a party where everyone is treated with respect."
He said the Liberal Democrats had changed a lot of things about the party, including appointing a pastoral care officer, and reviewing complaint procedures, after an "extremely uncomfortable" year.He said the Liberal Democrats had changed a lot of things about the party, including appointing a pastoral care officer, and reviewing complaint procedures, after an "extremely uncomfortable" year.
"I am determined that as we continually review and improve our culture and processes we make sure that we reach the gold standard of how to protect volunteers and staff at every level of the party from harassment and inappropriate behaviour and ensure swift and just censure to those who behave in that way," he said."I am determined that as we continually review and improve our culture and processes we make sure that we reach the gold standard of how to protect volunteers and staff at every level of the party from harassment and inappropriate behaviour and ensure swift and just censure to those who behave in that way," he said.
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