Lord Chris Rennard steps down from Liberal Democrat federal executive after leader Tim Farron urges him not to take the position
Lord Chris Rennard has stepped down from the Liberal Democrat's executive following a call from party leader Tim Farron for him not to take up the position due to concerns over sexual harassment claims.
Over 200 members of the Lib Dems had called for a special conference to discuss Rennard's appointment, who had been accused of sexual harassment by four women, after having been voted to the Lib Dem's federal executive (FE) on Thursday.
Rennard has denied any wrongdoing but party members had complained of the appointment.
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"A week ago, I was elected by the votes of the Liberal Democrat members of the House of Lords to be their representative on the party’s Federal Executive," Lord Rennard said.
"Any Lib Dem peer could have stood, all of them could vote, and I was elected by 44 votes to 25. Since then a number of party members have objected to that outcome and sought to effectively overturn it by removing the right of the Lib Dem peers to have a representative on it."
Rennard said he was disappointed that in a party called the Liberal Democrats there should be such a challenge to the result of a democratic election.
"I recognise, however, that there has been much controversy in the party and this has continued partly because it has been very poor in communicating to its members the outcomes of all the various processes investigating allegations made against me."
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Farron issued a statement on Tuesday morning, saying: "I have decided it is time to make clear publicly that I do not believe it is in the interests of the party for Chris to take up his position on the FE.”
Alluding to the upcoming by-election in Oldham West and Royton, Farron said a special conference was not in the party's best interest, as it would divert considerable "time, energy and resource" away from Oldham and the growing "fightback we are mounting across the UK".
In January 2014 an investigation found there was insufficient evidence to justify action against Rennard.