Nick Clegg is under fire over his handling of the Lord Rennard case (Picture: Getty)

A woman who has accused former Liberal Democrat chief executive Lord Rennard of sexual harassment has claimed as many as nine other women could have suffered similar experiences.

The former Lib Dem county councillor – known only as Susan – claimed she was left ‘extremely distressed’ after the peer propositioned her at at candidates’ event in Peterborough after he had followed her to the toilet.

And the woman said she had spoken to nine other women who had been similarly targeted by the peer, dating back to 2001/2, but they had all kept their complaints informal as they ‘didn’t want all this fuss’.



But Lord Rennard denies all the accusations.


Nick Clegg in Europe yesterday (Picture REUTERS/Bart Maat)

Susan told BBC Radio 4’s World At One that Lord Rennard held and ‘almighty amount of power’ in the party and she did not want to ‘ruin’ her future career chances.

She said: ‘It is always really difficult for anyone to come forward and I’m hoping that regardless of the bad reactions that we have had from some of the men in the party, women will come forward and will engage with the inquiries.’

She added: ‘It’s rocked the party to the core. It’s been like telling the party faithful that Santa Claus isn’t real.’

And Susan said leader Nick Clegg had made a judgment call but ‘made it wrong’.

The latest claim come as Mr Clegg called for police to be allowed to ‘do their job’ as officers prepared to meet Liberal Democrat officials over allegations their former chief executive Lord Rennard sexually harassed women in the party.

The increasingly beleaguered Lib Dem leader hit out at ‘people who appear to want to act as self-appointed detectives’ insisting only the two inquiries and Scotland Yard would be able to establish the truth of the matter.

Mr Clegg said he would not provide ‘a running commentary on every shred of speculation about event which happened many years ago’ as further questions about when he knew about the allegations.

Lord Rennard was chief executive of the Lib Dems until 2009. (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Speaking outside his south-west London home, Mr Clegg said: ‘I understand there are many people who appear to want to act as self-appointed detectives trying to piece together events that happened many years ago, but the only way that we are going to get to the bottom of the truth, the only way we are going to ensure that the women whose allegations were broadcast on television last week are properly listened to, the only way we are going to establish exactly what happened and who knew what and when, is by allowing the two investigations that I established immediately after the Channel 4 broadcast to do their job and, indeed, to allow the police, whom we have now approached, to do their job as well.

‘And in the meantime I cannot and my party cannot provide a running commentary on every shred of speculation about events which happened many years ago.’

Officers from the Metropolitan police special investigations command were due to meet with Lib Dem staff, expected to include chief executive Tim Gordon, this afternoon to ascertain whether any criminal activity had taken place.



Lord Rennard, who served as chief executive, until he resigned citing health reasons in 2009, is accused of inappropriate behaviour with several women.

This afternoon his spokesman said: ‘Lord Rennard refutes these allegations. He will co-operate with any properly constituted inquiry. He has been notified of an internal investigatory panel within the party.’

The spokesman added: ‘He would reiterate that in 27 years of working for the Liberal Democrats he received no complaint or allegation about his behaviour. Nor is he aware of any personal complaints being made in the three and half years since he stood down as chief executive until last week.’

One of his accusers, former activist Alison Smith, told the BBC’s Newsnight that there was an ‘intolerable’ culture in the Liberal Democrat party.

She said: ‘It is going beyond a pat on the knee a lot of the time and even if it was just a pat on the knee, who gets to decide what’s an acceptable advance and what’ not an acceptable advance? The power dynamics in these situation are quite scary.’

Mr Clegg has come under increasing pressure to clarify exactly what he and his office did know about the allegations and what action was taken. On Sunday, business secretary Vince Cable insisted neither he nor Mr Clegg had been aware of any allegations. He has initiated two inquiries – one into the complaints against Lord Rennard, to be chaired by former head of the Lib Dem Lawyers Association, Alistair Webster QC, the other looking into how the complaints were initially handled.


The Lib Dem leader returned from a holiday on Sunday evening to admit his office had heard ‘indirect and non-specific concerns’ in 2008. He had instructed his then chief of staff Danny Alexander to speak to Lord Rennard and warn him that any such behaviour was wholly unacceptable.

Mr Clegg has insisted he has ‘nothing to hide’ on the issue but Lib Dem president Tim Farron admitted his party had ‘screwed up’ in its handling of the case.