Lord Lester resigns from House of Lords ahead of suspension vote

Lord Lester

The 82-year-old peer and former barrister allegedly harassed women’s rights campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera while they worked together on a parliamentary bill 12 years ago.

The Lords privileges and conduct committee said it its report on the matter that it had established Lord Lester had told the woman: “If you sleep with me, I will make you a Baroness within a year.”

However, peers voted by 101-78 last month to send the report back to the committee rather than endorse its key recommendation of a suspension from the Lords until 3 June 2022.

The committee is expected to reaffirm its recommendation today, The Times reports.

Lord Lester said: “This investigation has taken a serious toll on my health. I have seen today that the committee does not accept the resolution of the House that the commissioner’s investigation did not comply with natural justice, and that it intends instead to bring this matter back to the House of Lords.

“I do not have the strength or health to continue. I am sorry that this issue has caused so much upset to everyone involved and very much hope that the House of Lords will now take the long called-for step of reforming its procedures. I have always said that allegations of this kind should be properly investigated.”

Lord Pannick QC, who had moved the amendment to send the report back to committee, told The Times that it was a sad end to a distinguished legal career.

He added: “The Human Rights Act 1998 and many other legal reforms which made the law fairer and more humane are the result of the efforts and skill of Lord Lester QC.”