The House of Lords Conduct Committee has today published a
report on the conduct of .
The report follows an investigation by the House of Lords
Commissioner for Standards, who found that Lord Stone's actions
towards three separate complainants had breached the Code of
Conduct. He found Lord Stone's behaviour towards two complainants
constituted sexual misconduct and harassment, and that his
behaviour towards a third complainant constituted harassment. The
findings of harassment included behaviour that engaged the
protected characteristics of disability and
race.
Lord Stone resigned from the House of Lords during the
investigation. The Commissioner stated that, as this was the
fourth report finding Lord Stone in breach of the Code, had Lord
Stone not resigned the Commissioner would have recommended Lord
Stone's expulsion from the House. The Conduct Committee endorsed
this recommendation.
As Lord Stone is no longer a Member of the House of Lords the
Committee recommended the strongest sanction available: that he
be permanently excluded from the House of Lords estate. If the
report is agreed by the House of Lords, the Chair of the
Committee, , will write to the Speaker of
the House of Commons inviting him to take steps to ensure that
Lord Stone is also permanently excluded from the House of Commons
estate.
The full report is available
online here
