Video prompts Lords deputy speaker to quit
THE DEPUTY speaker of the House of Lords quit his post last night after a national newspaper released a video of him half-naked and apparently taking drugs at his Westminster flat with two prostitutes.
Baron Sewel of Gilcomstoun, who is ironically tasked with overseeing standards in the House of Lords, will also face a police investigation after The Sun on Sunday published the footage, which it said showed the Labour peer taking cocaine.
In the video the 69 year-old, who was handed a life peerage by the Labour Party in 1996, is filmed snorting what appears to be a white powder using a rolled-up bank note.
He allegedly tells the escorts how he had struggled to pay for his £1,000-a-month rent-protected London flat in Dolphin Square even as he signs one of them a £200 cheque.
Baroness Frances D’Souza, the upper chamber’s speaker, said Sewel’s behaviour was “shocking and unacceptable”.
She confirmed he had decided to resign as deputy speaker and would be investigated by police. She did not say if he confirmed or denied the allegations.