NOVANEWS
Scotland Yard is investigating “whether or not criminal activity has taken place” following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard, as a poll shows the party has plunged to its lowest ever poll rating.The scandal that dominated yesterday’s front pages shows no signs of dissipating as Lord Rennard continues to deny the claims made against him.Some senior Lib Dems are playing a messy game of ‘who knew what, when’ in public while others are remaining notably quiet – particularly the seven female Lib Dem MPs.
As well as news of the police investigation, the Daily Telegraph has details of a new twist. According to the paper, Helen Jardine-Brown, a former head of fund-raising, lost her job in the party and was given a pay off in exchange for keeping quiet about allegations that Lord Rennard harassed her.
The paper is also going after Jonny Oates, Clegg’s chief of staff, who it says was given details of five allegations of harassment back in 2010. It says that Oates would not have been able to deny the allegations as he did without first having spoken to Clegg – undermining the Lib Dem leader’s claims to not have heard specific” allegations until last week
Last night deputy leader Simon Hughes distanced himself and the party from parliamentary candidate and Clegg biographer Jasper Gerard who took to the BBC’s World at One programme to defend Rennard and dismiss the seriousness of the allegations. Gerard said: “We are still now going on about whether somebody put his hand or didn’t put his hand on somebody’s knee. This isn’t a Jimmy Savile case revisited.”
Others are taking it more seriously. Lib Dem Baroness Hussein-Ece told HuffPost she believed “quite a few” more women “will come out of the woodwork” to make accusations.
Her party, she said, is too “male dominated” and the “culture has to change”. She added: “The [male dominated] culture allows for these things to happen. There are aren’t sufficient checks and balances in place; there isn’t a sufficient number of high-ranking women in place to curb some of this behaviour.”
There has also been notable silence from several other senior Lib Dems including former leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Ming Campbell.
All this with just a few days to go until the must win Eastleigh by-election. This morning the Independent leads on a ComRes poll that puts the Lib Dems in fourth place behind the UK Independence Party nationally. The Liberal Democrats are on just eight per cent, down two points on last month, while Ukip is on nine per cent (down one point).
As well as news of the police investigation, the Daily Telegraph has details of a new twist. According to the paper, Helen Jardine-Brown, a former head of fund-raising, lost her job in the party and was given a pay off in exchange for keeping quiet about allegations that Lord Rennard harassed her.
The paper is also going after Jonny Oates, Clegg’s chief of staff, who it says was given details of five allegations of harassment back in 2010. It says that Oates would not have been able to deny the allegations as he did without first having spoken to Clegg – undermining the Lib Dem leader’s claims to not have heard specific” allegations until last week
Last night deputy leader Simon Hughes distanced himself and the party from parliamentary candidate and Clegg biographer Jasper Gerard who took to the BBC’s World at One programme to defend Rennard and dismiss the seriousness of the allegations. Gerard said: “We are still now going on about whether somebody put his hand or didn’t put his hand on somebody’s knee. This isn’t a Jimmy Savile case revisited.”
Others are taking it more seriously. Lib Dem Baroness Hussein-Ece told HuffPost she believed “quite a few” more women “will come out of the woodwork” to make accusations.
Her party, she said, is too “male dominated” and the “culture has to change”. She added: “The [male dominated] culture allows for these things to happen. There are aren’t sufficient checks and balances in place; there isn’t a sufficient number of high-ranking women in place to curb some of this behaviour.”
There has also been notable silence from several other senior Lib Dems including former leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Ming Campbell.
All this with just a few days to go until the must win Eastleigh by-election. This morning the Independent leads on a ComRes poll that puts the Lib Dems in fourth place behind the UK Independence Party nationally. The Liberal Democrats are on just eight per cent, down two points on last month, while Ukip is on nine per cent (down one point).
