Libdems call in the police
Helpline launched for women affected by Lord Rennard allegations
POLICE have been called in by the Liberal Democrats to investigate allegations against the party’s former chief executive, Lord Rennard.
Scotland Yard said it was investigating “whether or not criminal activity had taken place” after being contacted by the party, the Coalition partners in Government.
It follows allegations of inappropriate behaviour from a series of women.
The news came as the LibDems announced they had set up a helpline for women with concerns over the behaviour of the former senior party executive.
As pressure increased on senior party figures over what they knew and when, LibDem women’s minister Jo Swinson refused to be drawn on her statement that she had taken “action” after allegations were put to her.
In a significant shift, Lord Rennard also admitted for the first time that he had a conversation with Danny Alexander after rumours over his behaviour surfaced in 2008.
The peer has strongly denied all the allegations against him.
Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also appeared to shift his position again on the allegations, saying he had not been aware of “very specific” accusations.
The LibDems insisted at the weekend MrClegg had known nothing of the claims before they emerged last week.
But on Sunday he admitted that anonymous and non-specific rumours had reached his office by 2008.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it had been approached by LibDem officials and it was “working with them to ascertain whether or not criminal activity has taken place”.
THE Liberal Democrats slumped to a new low in a set of polls as it launched a helpline for women affected by the alleged misconduct of the party’s former chief executive Lord Rennard.
As senior LibDems refused to say how many claims of sexual harassment they had received since the accusations emerged, ComRes revealed the party had slumped to its lowest-ever rating in a monthly survey.
The poll gave the LibDems only 8% of the vote, putting it in fourth place behind the UK Independence Party.
Its rating is down two points on last month, compared to UKIP’s 9%.
Crucially, the result comes three days before the Eastleigh by-election, caused by LibDem MP Chris Huhne’s resignation for perverting the course of justice.
One of the women who had anonymously complained about Lord Rennard has revealed herself as Alison Goldsworthy, a party member from Wales.
Police also confirmed they had been asked to investigate “whether or not criminal activity has taken place”.
The apparent escalation of the scandal came as pressure mounted on LibDem leaders to explain what they knew and when about the allegations.
LibDem Womens’ Minister and East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson would not be drawn on her earlier comments that she had taken “action” when concerns were raised with her.
But Lord Rennard did admit for the first time he had been confronted about rumours over his behaviour by now LibDem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander.
In an attempt to challenge cover-up allegations, senior LibDem figures also announced they had appointed an independent whistleblower for alleged victims to contact.
The party described Public Concern at Work as the “UK’s leading whistle-blowing authority”. Party sources also made clear evidence to the internal party inquiry into the allegations against Lord Rennard would be made public, as well as its results.
LibDem sources said the inquiry was expected to last three months and added that all the sexual harassment accusations against the former party chief executive, which stretch back to the early 2000s, would be looked at.
It will be headed by Alistair Webster QC, a former chairman of t he Liberal Democrat Lawyers’ Association.
Trials Mr Webster has been involved in include the Lady in Lake case, in which Gordon Park was convicted of murdering his wife 28 years ago and dumping her body at the bottom of Coniston Water, where it lay undiscovered until 1997.
Earlier LibDem president Tim Farron admitted his party “screwed up” its response to allegations of improper behaviour by Lord Rennard.
“There are individuals out there who we had a duty of care towards and we did not fulfil that duty of care,” he said.
Last week the party insisted leader Nick Clegg had known nothing about the accusations before they emerged.
But on Sunday night the Deputy Prime Minister said his office had heard of anonymous non-specific rumours in 2008.
His then chief of staff Mr Alexander had challenged Lord Rennard, who denied the allegations. However, it has now emerged that Mr Clegg’s chief of staff, Jonny Oates, had been given details in a 2010 email of the dates and locations of four alleged incidents between 2003 and 2007.
Last night Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said the allegations had come as a surprise to him. It is also understood Scottish Secretary Michael Moore – a LibDem MP – also first heard of the accusations when they were made public last Thursday.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Special Investigations Command has been approached by officials in the Liberal Democrat Party and is working with them to ascertain whether or not criminal activity has taken place.”
Lord Rennard has strenuously denied “any suggestion of improper touching” of women who he came into contact with in his role as chief executive.
THE Liberal Democrats’ claims to be the champions of equality have taken a serious knock with allegations from several women of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching by the former chief executive Lord Rennard. But the handling of the complaints, particularly by their leader Nick Clegg, has done far greater damage.
At first Mr Clegg said he knew nothing about the allegations, which Lord Rennard denies. Later he said he had been aware of “indirect and non-specific concerns” about Lord Rennard’s conduct towards women in 2008.
His then chief of staff, Danny Alexander, put the claims to Lord Rennard and warned him that such behaviour was unacceptable.
Mr Clegg says that, because his office received the claims anonymously, there was a limit to how they could be taken further. It now transpires that in 2010 five specific allegations about Lord Rennard’s conduct were put to the LibDem leader’s chief of staff Jonny Oates. If Mr Clegg was not informed of these, there are questions to be answered about why the allegations were not passed on or investigated. By this time, Lord Rennard had resigned on health grounds but if that led to an assumption that the matter was closed, it betrays an organisational culture which failed both to value its staff and uphold Liberal Democrat principles.
Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire and now Equalities Minister, has said she took action after some women raised their concerns with her but she has not specified what form that action took. It may be that she could not betray confidences but as parliamentary aide to Mr Clegg at the time, the normally forthright Ms Swinson would have had an opportunity to draw the problem to his attention.
Whatever the details of who knew what and when, it is essential for the LibDems’ credibility that they now deal effectively with the complaints that have been made. So far their response has been so bedevilled by muddle and confusion that it is difficult to disagree with the party president Tim Farron that it had “screwed up” the handling of the claims of sexual harrassment. They have belatedly set up an inquiry into the allegations and there is to be a second inquiry into what went wrong. Mr Farron has acknowledged that as an employer the party failed in its duty of care.
That is a vital first step which Mr Clegg seemed curiously reluctant to take. Any organisation which fails to investigate allegations of abuse as soon as they are made or report them to superiors is colluding in a cover-up. As we have learned elsewhere, that is what leads to institutional abuse.