Women
who worked for the Liberal Democrats have told Channel 4 News that the
party's most powerful official abused his position for years by inappropriately
touching and propositioning them - and that leading Lib Dem MPs and peers who
knew failed to take decisive action.
The
women say they complained about Lord Rennard, the Lib Dems' former chief
executive, to senior party figures including the chief whip. But despite a
manifesto commitment to equality, and tackling sex discrimination in the
workplace, the party seemingly didn't do enough to root out sexual impropriety
by a man hailed by many in the party as a legend, a guru, or even a genius.
It
was Lord Rennard's campaigning skills that meant he had significant influence
over a succession of of Lib Dem leaders, from Paddy Ashdown to Nick Clegg, the
deputy prime minister. But some female party activists and prospective
candidates who came into contact with him accuse him of abusing that power.
Internal
review launched
On
Thursday the Lib Dems said in a statement that they would be launching an
immediate internal investigation into the issue:
"In
view of the serious allegations put to us by Channel 4 and the concerns
raised about how such issues have been handled in the past, Nick Clegg has
asked Tim Farron, the party president, to establish an immediate review into
all our procedures for dealing with these issues, including a thorough
examination of how allegations made in the past have been handled.
"An
internal investigation into the specific allegations raised by Channel 4 has
begun under the Party's disciplinary procedures.
"We
will not tolerate harrassment in our Party and we urge anyone to contact the
Chief Executive or use our confidential whistle blower procedure if they have
issues they wish to raise as a result of Channel 4's report."
Embarrassment
Bridget
Harris, who until just a few months ago worked as a special adviser to Nick
Clegg, told us Lord Rennard behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner towards
her over coffee at a conference in 2003 in Swansea.
"As
we carried on talking he was touching my legs and my knees and he did it two or
three times, and the first time I thought it was an accident and I crossed my
legs. Then the second time I realised he was actually doing it. Then when he
tried...the third time I basically had to physically move away from him,"
she told Channel 4 News, adding that he went on to invite her to his
room, "clearly not noticing the signals".
She
said the episode "made me feel embarrassed, upset and disappointed"
She
reported the incident to her line managers immediately afterwards.
Another
woman, who was a party candidate, was chatting at a Party event, when a friend
suggested taking a photo. She's still active in Lib Dem politics and didn't
want to be identified. "Chris [Lord Rennard] was stood next to me, he
shoved his hand down the back of my dress. I felt really humiliated, and very
undermined and very shameful," she said.
These
two incidents don't appear to be isolated events. We've spoken to other women
who have described very similar experiences, suggesting a pattern of behaviour.
They say the approaches happened completely out of the blue, in the evening
during training weekends for parliamentary candidates.
However,
Alison Smith, now a politics lecturer at Oxford University, recounted a
slightly different story. Six years ago she was an aspiring Lib Dem activist
and she and a friend were invited back to Lord Rennard's house after having
dinner with him in central London.
"He
just very suddenly got up and plonked himself between us and then he started
moving his hands down our backs and places where they had absolutely no
business being," she told us.
"I
straight away stood up and said, 'No, that's not acceptable. I'm going home.'
He said, 'Oh you can't go home, you should stay here.' I said, 'What do you
mean I can't go home?' He said, 'There's no taxis'. I said, 'Well if there's no
taxis then I'll walk.' He said, 'You can't walk you don't know where you are'
... And I got very, very, very cross ... He looked surprised, he looked shocked
and he opened the door and we got a taxi home."
Concern
Ms
Smith reported what had happened to Paul Burstow, who was then the party's
chief whip, but she says she never heard anything back from him. "He
listened very patiently and sounded very concerned and then basically said he
would do something about it and be in touch, but he never was," she said.
She
then went to Jo Swinson, the party's spokesperson for women and equality, who
is now minister for women. Ms Smith says Ms Swinson agreed to investigate and
spoke to other women who had also alleged Lord Rennard had behaved
inappropriately.
Ms
Smith added: "She certainly uncovered ... that this was a very serious
pattern of behaviour." But Ms Swinson told Ms Smith the problem with
taking it forward was that nobody wanted to make a formal complaint.
"It
very quickly became quite Kafkaesque. They were saying, 'No one wants to make a
formal complaint', and I was saying, 'I'll make a formal complaint,' and they
were saying, 'That's a shame because no one wants to make a formal
complaint'." Ms Smith told us.
Mr
Burstow and Ms Swinson weren't the only senior figures in the Lib Dems who had
been told.
An
email sent in October 2008 by a former Lib Dem campaigns officer to women in
the party, stated: "There has been a long-standing problem with a number
of women where the abuse of Chris's [Lord Rennard's] position was clearly
inappropriate. I've discussed this today with Jo Swinson, who was aware of a
number of cases ... Jo tells me that a recent conversation has been had by
somebody senior in the party with Chris, and he has been informed that the
behaviour has to stop."
The
email asked women to contact the leader's office about "recent
incidents" involving Lord Rennard.
Six
years after the first incident that we are aware of, he stepped down as chief
executive, citing ill health, as he has diabetes. But Ms Smith claims that the
party president Ros Scott told her "specifically" that the party
"had basically forced him to stand down because of these allegations".
Baroness
Scott wouldn't comment on why Lord Rennard resigned but told us she was aware
of issues about his behaviour. She said if a formal complaint had been made she
would have acted on it, but that she'd received no such complaint. Baroness
Scott also told us that as a result of the allegations she had instigated a
review of the party's whistle-blowing procedures.
Denial
At
the 2009 party conference Mr Clegg paid a warm tribute to Lord Rennard, saying
that without his "guidance and encouragement", he "wouldn't have
been elected as an MP, let alone now be leading the party".
Ms
Smith accused the party of being in "denial" about "how
serious" his behaviour was, and "about the effect that was
having".
Despite
his resignation as chief executive in 2009, four years later Lord Rennard
appears to be taking an active role. In October, he tweeted that Mr Clegg had
nominated him as vice president of an international federation for liberal
parties, and the following month he was voted onto the Lib Dem's federal policy
committee, which writes the manifesto.
The
women who spoke to us say they are concerned about his contact with female
candidates. Just last month, he attended a training weekend in Bedfordshire for
prospective MPs.
A
spokesperson for the Lib Dems said tonight: "We take allegations of
harassment extremely seriously. There are clear procedures for dealing with
harassment and bullying which are set out in our federal handbook and
procedures within our constitution relating to behaviour which would bring the
party into disrepute."
The
party urged anyone with "issues they wish to raise" to use its
confidential whistleblower procedure, promising to respond to "any
specific allegations within that context".
No
complaints
Lord
Rennard's lawyers said he'd "always strived to conduct himself responsibly
and appropriately at all times and has no recollection of any inappropriate
behaviour. In addition, our client is unaware of any complaint about his
conduct ever being made against him."
They
added: "In the case of Ali Smith, he denies behaving improperly and
confirms he has worked with Bridget Harris since 2003 and is unaware of her
having grounds for complaint ... In addition, Lord Rennard describes as
completely untrue any suggestion that he resigned as chief executive as a
result of allegations about inappropriate behaviour."
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