Chris Rennard, Baron Rennard

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All allegations made about Lord Rennard have now been investigated thoroughly. This included a seven month investigation by specially trained officers of the Metropolitan Police. The police decided that there could be no charges and did not even a send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. In addition, there was a lengthy investigation by independent QC Alistair Webster. He also concluded that there was insufficient evidence even to proceed to a disciplinary hearing. The Liberal Democrat Party has now dealt with all the allegations and the matter is closed. We must advise anyone against publishing or broadcasting defamatory remarks. Accusations that were rejected by both the Metropolitan Police and an independent QC would be treated as such. [59]

Helena Morrissey was invited to report on processes and culture within the Liberal Democrats, and her report in December 2014 concluded, in relation to Lord Rennard, that:

At this point, December 2014, every investigation has concluded with no further action to be taken against Lord Rennard. The process over the past nearly two years – conducted according to the prevailing rules – has run its course and although the outcome is a source of great frustration to some, I believe that the Party can only move on if that outcome is accepted. At this stage, given that the Party applied its own processes, there is no justification for it remaining ambivalent towards Lord Rennard – he should be just as welcome a participant or guest at Party events as any other. [60]

She also observed how the Party's burden of proof for disciplinary procedures had been lowered from a criminal ('beyond reasonable doubt') to a civil standard of proof ('on the balance of probabilities').

During his campaign to become Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron said that if elected he would have "no intention of appointing him [Rennard] to any role in the party." [61]

In November 2017, the Party's Deputy Leader (and future Leader), Jo Swinson, expressed her desire in a comment piece that Lord Rennard would not be a Liberal Democrat member, writing "That Lord Rennard remains in the party, showing no remorse or contrition, while many of the women involved have left, fills me with sadness and anger ... I do not want Lord Rennard to continue as a member of the party. As far as I am concerned, he is not welcome." [62]

Attempt to join Liberal Democrat Federal Executive

In November 2015 Rennard was chosen to serve as the Liberal Democrat Lords' representative to the Liberal Democrats' governing Federal Executive Committee. A Special Conference triggered by Party members opposed to the decision was averted when Rennard agreed to resign his Committee membership following a public intervention by Tim Farron, who stated "Chris serving on the FE is not in our best interest, as the levels of anger and division have shown. I am therefore asking Chris to step down from the FE in the best interests of the party". [63]

Memoirs

The first volume of his memoirs, Winning Here, went on sale on 25 January 2018. [64] The launch was mired in controversy, when it turned out Lord Rennard was being investigated by the information commissioner for a breach of data protection law by sending unsolicited emails promoting the book to Lib Dem supporters. Private Eye reported that the email offered a 25% discount "when you click through to the shopping page". Readers who accepted would then be treated to how "I started running council elections in my teens, was a successful constituent agent at 22, the Lib Dem director of campaigns and elections at 29, a peer at 39". Private Eye titled the article "Comeuppance Corner", as Lord Rennard was one of those that voted for a change in the data protection law to make newspapers pay both sides' costs in data protection cases. [65]

References

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  2. Westminster Parliamentary Record. "Westminster Parliamentary Record". Publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  3. Winning Here, Rennard, 2018, pages 3-4
  4. Hansard, House of Lords. "House of Lords Minutes of Proceedings, 9th January 2003". Publications.parliament.uk.
  5. University of Liverpool. "University of Liverpool Events, 6th July 2012". Archived from the original on 22 January 2014.
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  54. "Former aide to Nick Clegg quits the Lib-Dems over Lord Rennard row". London Evening Standard . Evening Standard Ltd. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
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  59. Statement from Lord Rennard Liberal Democrat Voice, 21 August 2014 Accessed 22 August 2014
  60. Morrissey, Helena. "Progress Report on the Processes and Culture of the Liberal Democrats" (PDF). Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  61. "Rennard could expose Lib Dem sex scandals". Mark Pack . Mark Pack. 10 July 2015.
  62. "Sexual harassment: a chance for change". Medium. 19 November 2017.
  63. "Tim Farron calls on Chris Rennard to step down from the Federal Executive". Lib Dem Voice. 17 November 2015.
  64. Private Eye issue No 1463 - 9–22 February 2018 - Page 11 "Comeuppance Corner"
  65. Biteback Publishing (25 Jan. 2018) ISBN   1785903373 ISBN   978-1785903373
The Lord Rennard
MBE
Official portrait of Lord Rennard crop 2, 2025.jpg
Official portrait, 2025
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
21 July 1999
Life Peerage
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Rennard
Followed by