Lord Lester: peer who 'promised woman seat in House of Lords in return for sex' escapes ban

A peer who was found to have groped a woman and promised her a seat in the House of Lords in return for sex has escaped a ban from the chamber.

An inquiry recommended that Lord Lester, a distinguished barrister and human rights campaigner, be suspended until 2022 – the longest exclusion in modern parliamentary history.

But the Lords has voted by 101 to 78 to block the suspension, after his supporters claimed the inquiry had denied him justice.

Lord Lester, a Liberal Democrat, allegedly told Jasvinder Sanghera, a women’s rights campaigner: “Sleep with me and I will make you a baroness.”

But Lord Pannick, a QC and long-time friend, had led protests that Lord Lester had been given no opportunity to challenge Ms Sanghera about her claims.

“The basic element of fairness is that you have the opportunity to test the evidence put against you. You can ask questions to establish if it’s a misrecollection, malign motive,” he told the BBC earlier this week.

And Baroness Altmann, the former pensions minister, had warned the process would have to be reviewed if “some of the best legal minds in the land” believed it was unsatisfactory.

The Lords voted to send the case back to the Lords’ committee for privileges and conduct to look at again.

Following publication of the report on Monday, Ms Sanghera had waived her right to anonymity to speak out about the case.

She accused Lord Lester of “unwanted touching”, including groping her in his car and the kitchen of his London house, and of persistently making sometimes revolting “sexual comments and offers” to her.

Ms Sanghera’s lawyer, David Hooper, had expressed concern at the campaign by peers in defence of Lord Lester that criticised the investigation that led to the proposed suspension.

Mr Hooper said: “All peers, including Lord Lester, have accepted this procedure for people to make complaints but they don’t seem to like it when the decision is against them.”

The investigation into Lord Lester was the first complaint of sexual harassment examined by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, the Lords’ commissioner for standards.

Later, Lord Lester said: “I would like to thank David Pannick and those members of the Lords who supported him today recognising the importance of process and now look forward to restoring my reputation.”