Lib Dems in disarray over Lord Rennard refusal to apologise

The Liberal Democrat leader and president have been urging Lord Rennard to say sorry to the women who came forward with complaints – but so far he has failed to comply.

Earlier on Friday Channel 4 News asked the leader’s office whether he was content for the peer to rejoin the party in the Lords, having openly defied Mr Clegg. The programme has been sent a statement making clear the leadership has finally lost patience.

The statement reads –

“Nick Clegg is of the view that as long as Lord Rennard refuses the very reasonable request from Alistair Webster QC to apologise that it is inappropriate for him to rejoin the Liberal Democrat group in the House of Lords. Nick has communicated this to the Chief Whip and Leader of the House of Lords group.

A growing number of party members have come forward to make representations to the party that Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise in itself brings the party into disrepute. Liberal Democrat statement on Lord Rennard

“In addition, a growing number of party members have come forward to make representations to the party that Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise in itself brings the party into disrepute.

“The Lords Chief Whip and Leader of the House of Lords group will be discussing the matter with party HQ and will review the reinstatement of the whip on this basis.”

Channel 4 News asked the Liberal Democrats for an interview and tried to contact all Liberal Democrat peers — but no-one wanted to speak to the programme.

‘An almighty mess’

Channel 4 News Political Correspondent Michael Crick said this latest development left the Liberal Democrats in “an almighty mess”.

“I suppose they could get out of it if Lord Rennard was to apologise some time over the weekend — which, given what he and his people have been saying, doesn’t look likely,” he told Cathy Newman.

“And then there’s a stand-off between Nick Clegg and the group in the House of Lords — and Lord Rennard has, as you know, from the roughly 90 or 100 peers in the House of Lords, considerable support there.

“They were going to reinstate the whip on Monday — and now they’ve got to decide whether they’re going to comply with what Nick Clegg says or carry on supporting Lord Rennard. If they were to do the latter, support Lord Rennard, that severely undermines Nick Clegg’s authority within the party.

Discussing the phrase “brings the party into disrepute” in the Lib Dems’ statement, Michael Crick explained that it hinted that Nick Clegg did not just want to deprive Lord Rennard of the whip in the Lords but, more important, “it’s threatening the possibility of throwing Rennard out of the party altogether.”

‘It’s a disgrace’

Bridget Harris, one of the women who has complained about Lord Rennard’s behaviour, welcomed tonight’s statement from the Liberal Democrats.

Michael Crick told Cathy Newman Ms Harris had said she thought that by giving Lord Rennard the whip back, it would legitimise him, and argued that “many Liberal Democrat members, if this carries on, will end up hating the group within the House of Lords”.

On the subject of Lord Rennard’s failure to apologise, Michael Crick said this was partly because he had not yet seen the report.

“There’s also potentially a legal problem,” he continued. “If one of these women was to take civil action against him… then it’s possible that making an apology would not help his case. It would strengthen the case of the woman that was to do so.”

And as far as the position of the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is concerned, Michael Crick concluded that it was “a huge mess”.

“He must be desperately hoping that Rennard does apologise, because otherwise, come Monday, we’ve got this confrontation between the Lib Dem leadership and the Lib Dems in the Lords.”