Peer Breaks Code Of Conduct Rules While Taking Code Of Conduct Training

A member of the House of Lords has been found guilty of breaking parliament’s rules while undertaking training about how not to break the rules.

Lord Lea of Crondall was found to have bullied another person in January when trying to allow a guest to access the parliamentary estate.

The finding was published on Monday in a report from the Lords commissioner for standards.

The complainant said they felt “belittled and undermined” by the January 2020 incident.

Lord Lea was accused of becoming “very angry” and having “raised his voice” when he was told he would not be able to meet a guest in parliament as they had not made a booking.

The guest, known as Dr K, was Lord Lea’s contact at the external providers hired by parliament to provide training.

Ironically, that training included “behaviour change coaching” that Lord Lea had agreed to undertake in response to a previous complaint about his conduct.

The Lords commissioner for standards had found him guilty of harassing a young woman who accused him of “stalkerish” behaviour.

The 82-year-old had been accused of acting “inappropriately” towards the woman while on an official visit.

Following the trip, the woman said Lord Lea had sent her a copy of a photo taken during the visit in a silver frame and a letter from him which included “a reference to an incident during the visit involving a bottle of champagne and an invitation to meet him”.

He was suspended from the Labour peers group as a result of the incident.

Lord Lea told the standards commissioner he had discussed the latest breach with Dr K as part of his behaviour change training and was “very, very sorry”.

In January another peer, Lord Ken Maginnis, was accused of launching a tirade at parliamentary staff, calling them “crooked” after he forgot his pass to enter parliament and they would not allow him in.

When SNP MP Hannah Bardell reported Lord Maginnis’s actions, he accused of her trying to “settle a score” because she is “queer” and he was opposed to gay marriage.