[Omah]

Nick Clegg Should Have Ordered Inquiry Into Lord Rennard Allegations

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...?utm_hp_ref=uk

Nick Clegg should have ordered a formal inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against former Liberal Democrat chief executive Lord Rennard, the author of an independent report into the party's handling of the complaints said.

Helena Morrissey also singled out Lib Dem ministers Jo Swinson and Danny Alexander for adopting an informal approach to the allegations which was "ultimately not sufficient".

Businesswoman Ms Morrissey said: "I think mistakes were definitely made. They were made by Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander and Jo Swinson.

"I think you can make a mistake and learn from them, it's different from setting out to mislead or to do something wrong."

Four women made allegations against Lord Rennard, but Ms Morrissey said her review also uncovered wider examples of "low level sexism" and a "reluctance to investigate" within the party.

Scotland Yard is investigating allegations against the peer and an internal Lib Dem investigation has been put on hold pending the outcome of the police inquiry.

Responding to questions about Mr Clegg's role, Ms Morrissey said: "I think that he did make a mistake by not asking for a formal investigation.

"But I understand as well why he was under the impression it was being dealt with the way the women wanted."

There was "little evidence to suggest a conscious attempt to cover up problems", Ms Morrissey's report found.

"Instead, there has been a tendency for the party to try to 'handle' complaints rather than to fully and properly investigate them in a timely, professional manner," the report said.

"Individuals appear to have been generally acting in good faith but without realising the importance of adhering to process or being aware of the processes in place.

"While this may appear a benign mistake, it has caused problems to fester unresolved, to the detriment of all involved."

Lib Dems: allegations of sexual impropriety

http://www.channel4.com/news/lib-dem...al-impropriety

Lib-Dems - another bunch of self-interested incompetents condoning, in effect, the abuse of the powerless by those in power .....

[Kizzy]

Never mind that I still want an enquiry into the abuse raised by Tom Watson

''Watson has blogged an update, saying (in effect) that his aim was to use PMQs as a megaphone to send a message to the Met. He doesn’t say whether he gave any thought to innocent people who would be affected, MacAlpine-style, by his fingering “a senior aide of a former PM”. Watson says nothing about the strength (or otherwise) of his evidence and talks about documents. I wonder: has anyone else seen these documents? Watson will, of course, still have copies. If Harman won’t vouch for him, then will anyone else?''

Swept under the carpet....

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeeh...sons-evidence/

[arista]

"Lib Dems: allegations of sexual impropriety"


Yes they they Hold their Hands Up
admit their Guilt of letting that Porky LibDem
git touch up loads of younger women staff




Mr Farron last night told
Channel 4 News (far better than the Bloated BBC)
that he did not think any of the ministers involved
should resign over their failures as the party now
had a ‘gold standard’ for how to handle future complaints.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2W4jFpdS8

[joeysteele]

It was good to see Nick Clegg squirm rather as to this issue. A total hypocrite.

[Omah]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wom...ds-rolled.html

By Cathy Newman, Presenter, Channel 4 News

10:29AM BST 13 Jun 2013

Nick Clegg couldn’t have been clearer yesterday. When the businesswoman Helena Morrissey published her report – ordered in the wake of the Rennard scandal – into how the Liberal Democrats dealt with sexual harassment complaints, the party leader had this to say:“It makes sobering reading. It shows that stretching over a 20-year period a series of mistakes were made which left a number of women feeling seriously let down, and for that there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever.”

And he went further, saying that as leader of the Liberal Democrats he took responsibility for those mistakes.

Strong stuff indeed. But what does it actually mean?

One of the women who made the original sexual harassment allegations against Lord Rennard on Channel 4 News – allegations which he strenuously denies – told me yesterday that she wanted to know who would resign over the failings Ms Morrissey identified.

The report found that party figures from the leader down had plenty of opportunities to order a full and formal investigation into complaints of sexual impropriety – and yet they omitted to do so. This wasn’t, as Mr Clegg tried to claim yesterday, because there weren’t the right processes in place. In fact, Ms Morrissey made plain that “formal processes existed but were not followed”.

Mr Clegg knew of the concerns five years ago; and at various points in the last few years, the then chief whip, party president and the woman who’s now equalities minister – Jo Swinson – had all received allegations about Lord Rennard.

Paul Burstow, who was chief whip at the time and had two women raise concerns with him, apologised in Ms Morrissey’s report for a “lapse of judgement” in failing to urge them to make a formal complaint. An odd apology that, since the women we spoke to insisted they believed their complaints were formal.

But apart from that, and the Deputy Prime Minister’s show of contrition yesterday, no one has taken ultimate responsibility for letting the women down. No one, in short, has lost their job over these failings spanning two decades.

I put that to Tim Farron, the current party president, on Channel 4 News last night. We’d asked for an interview with Mr Clegg himself. In fact we’ve been asking since we broke the Rennard story in February. But the party decided to allow the Deputy Prime Minister to do a single “pooled” interview for all the broadcasters, fielding Mr Farron on our programme instead.

This was of limited use to people like me who still want answers, but it was undoubtedly extremely useful to the party itself, as Mr Farron is charming, genial, apologetic, and most important of all, wasn’t in the know at the time the allegations are made, so is absolutely unable to take any personal responsibility himself.

So when I asked him if anyone should quit, he said no, before adding: “My job is not to defend what we’ve done in the past...What we want as a party is to be able to go forward from this.”

Indeed. The Liberal Democrats appear to have decided that the best approach here is to apologise in a grovelling manner, promise to do better in the future, and hope that nobody has to be the fall guy or girl.

This is fine as far as it goes, and certainly the women behind the original allegations told me yesterday they were pleased the party appeared to be getting its house in order at last. But if these mistakes are as serious as Mr Clegg implied yesterday, isn’t it rather surprising that no one has been shown the door?

I’ll carry on asking the questions, but I’m not confident of getting any firm answers any time soon.

Go get 'em, Cathy .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22927900

Former Lib Dem chief executive Lord Rennard has been interviewed under caution by police investigating allegations of sexual impropriety.

Scotland Yard began looking into whether any criminal activity had taken place in February.

Police said on Sunday a 52-year-old man had voluntarily attended a London police station, by appointment.

Lord Rennard's solicitors said he "welcomed his first opportunity to refute the basis" of the allegations.