There is a clear need for an apology over the Lord Rennard case, something that is evident to many of us outside of the Party. The people who need to say sorry are those in the Party leadership who should apologise to the members for failing to deal with this case in an effective and fair manner. It is also very clear that Lord Carlile and his colleagues need to reflect very carefully on the actions which they are threatening to bring against the party. Whatever the wrongs or the rights of the actions by Chris Rennard, there can surely be no gain for him or for anyone else (apart from possibly other Political Parties) for a court case to be held to force the party to allow him to return to his previous position.

At the end of January 2004 the same Mark Carlile was speaking in a debate in the House of Lords when he made the following comment “My Lords, in making the argument for her amendment, the noble Baroness chose, one assumes, to describe several people known to me as nasty, litigious people.” These words may come back to haunt him. It cannot surely make sense to use Court proceedings to force people who you claim you want to work with, to be allowed to do so. This cannot strengthen the Party in any way. In exactly 4 months the party will be attempting to win votes in the European elections from an electorate already heartily cynical about the behaviour of politicians and political parties. How can forcing the Party to take back a Lord who has clearly got questions to answer, help him or the party when so much ill feeling and confusion is still evident. Last night on Radio 4’s Week in Westminster programme, Chris Davies MEP was interviewed in a manner that implied he is a support of Lord Rennard:

“It’s become like the Salem witch trials. This isn’t Jimmy Savile. This is touching someone’s leg through clothing …equivalent of  an Italian man pinching a woman’s bottom.”

Whatever the activities that Lord Rennard has been involved in, that interview alone makes it clear that some of the people who claim to support him have a rather strange view of what constitutes appropriate behaviour in the UK. As Chief Executive of the Party, Lord Rennard had the power to make or break careers which would make any inappropriate sexual behaviour even more damaging. Chris Davies is also a person in a leadership role, someone who employs other people using public money and legislates on our behalf. These are incredibly damaging ideas and comments that are bringing this party into disrepute.