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LONDON — The deputy speaker of the House of Lords has resigned his position after publication of photos and a video allegedly showing him using cocaine with prostitutes.

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John Sewel’s alleged behaviour is “shocking and unacceptable,” Lords Speaker Baroness D’Souza said Sunday, adding she is calling in police to investigate on an urgent basis.

“These serious allegations will be referred to the House of Lords commissioner for standards and the Metropolitan Police for investigation as a matter of urgency,” D’Souza said, adding that “the House of Lords will continue to uphold standards in public life.”

She said Sewel, who is married, has stepped down from his special position in Britain’s upper house. He remains a member of the House of Lords.

The Sun on Sunday newspaper published photographs of him naked and appearing to snort cocaine along with snippets of his conversations with women said to be prostitutes.

As deputy speaker, one of his roles was enforcing standards in the House of Lords. He was an ally of former prime minister Tony Blair.

Sewel, 69, a former minister whose duties included enforcing parliamentary standards, appeared to be the target of a sting by The Sun newspaper on Sunday, which released video images purporting to show him using drugs.

The Sun reported that he had stripped naked and snorted cocaine from the breasts of one of the women he had invited to the apartment in the Pimlico district of London, close to Parliament.

The Sewel convention, which outlines some rules on the relationship between legislators in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and those in London, is named after him.

Sewel does not represent any political party in the House of Lords, a fact that could limit the fallout from the allegations.