House of Lords bans pro-TRNC Lord over ‘bullying, harassment’
A PRO-TRNC peer has been suspended from the House of Lords for 18 months over claims of bullying and harassment.
The House of Lords Conduct Committee recommended in a 106-page report that North Cyprus ally Lord Maginnis had “broken the rules” of conduct towards four people, including an MP, and used “homophobic and offensive” language.
The House of Lords approved the ban and accepted the report’s recommendations.
The former Ulster Unionist
MP was also ordered to undertake “behaviour training” and warned that failure to do so could see him face a longer ban.
Lord Maginnis, 83, is known for his long-standing vocal support for the TRNC and the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people over the years.
He is also a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Cyprus Today was unable to contact Lord Maginnis for comment this
week, but he was quoted in British media reports to have called the report “ridiculous”.
He also claimed he was the “victim of a campaign” against him involving LGBT rights charity Stonewall, which has called on Lord Maginnis to “apologise to those he has hurt”.
Lord Maginnis, speaking to BBC Radio Ulster last week, said: “I’ve held responsible positions all my life. At 83 years of age, I’m not going to be dictated to in this way.”
Complaints against Lord Maginnis were made by Houses of Parliament security officer Christian Bombolo, SNP MP Hannah Bardell and Labour MPs Luke Pollard and Toby Perkins.
Lord Maginnis had been accused of verbally abusing Mr Bombolo after he had asked the peer to show him his security pass in January, to which it was claimed Lord Maginnis “became rude and aggressive”.
At the time, another newspaper published an article quoting Lord Maginnis as saying: “Queers like Ms Bardell don’t particularly annoy me.”
Speaking to CyprusToday, Baroness Hussein-Ece, a peer of Turkish Cypriot origin and a member of House of Lords Conduct Committee, said that Lord Maginnis’s membership of the APPG would be “put on hold”.
“The APPG will, however, continue to represent the interests of Turkish Cypriots, and we hope that we have more Parliamentarians joining the group in the coming year,” she added.