Peer also faces calls to quit parliament altogether after he was forced to stand down as deputy speaker in the wake of footage filmed in his London flat

Lord Sewel is facing a police investigation after quitting as deputy speaker of the House of Lords over a video allegedly showing him taking cocaine with sex workers.

Sewel is also facing calls to resign from parliament altogether – and could become the first peer expelled under new rules that he helped to introduce, even if police take no further action.

The Speaker of the Lords, Lady D’Souza, described the crossbench peer’s alleged behaviour as “shocking and unacceptable” and said she was referring the matter to Scotland Yard.



“[The] revelations about the behaviour of Lord Sewel are both shocking and unacceptable. Lord Sewel has resigned as chairman of committees,” she said. “The House of Lords will continue to uphold standards in public life and will not tolerate departure from these standards. 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.”

Sewel’s resignation came after the Sun on Sunday published a video showing him using a £5 note to snort a white powder off a tabletop. He is also heard calling women “whores”. The paper said the footage was filmed in Sewel’s flat in Dolphin Square, just a short walk from the House of Lords.

Labour MP John Mann insisted Lord Sewel should retire from the Lords voluntarily before he is expelled.

“He chaired the committee that makes the decisions on discipline. It was his committee,” the Bassetlaw MP said. “He cannot possibly go in front of his own committee and expect a serious hearing. He is a disgrace. He should retire and resign immediately.

“A lifetime ban would be the committee’s only option. He needs to save them and himself further embarrassment and go now.”

The Sun newspaper on Monday published fresh excerpts from recordings allegedly showing him drinking after having taken drugs with prostitutes.



Sewel is heard branding David Cameron “the most facile, superficial prime minister there’s ever been”, the Sun reported, during a conversation captured on camera at his flat.

He calls Boris Johnson “a joke” and a “public school upper class twit”, and describes Scottish MP Alex Salmond as a “silly, pompous prat”, in footage from the Sun.

The newspaper also reports that Lord Sewel said the Labour leadership race is “in a fucking mess”.

In the videos, Sewel, who has been a peer since 1996, is asked whether he receives expenses, and explains that he now gets a flat-rate allowance of £200 a day, though he alludes to the system being less rewarding than it once was. “It’s all changed and disappeared. People were making false claims,” he is heard saying. “Members of her lordship’s house … are right thieves, rogues and bastards at times. Wonderful people that they are.”

The allowance for peers is £300 a day, and does not apply to Sewel, who is paid a salary of £84,525 for his role as chairman of committees. As he declared his main residence was in Aberdeenshire, he was also entitled to a tax-free office holder’s allowance of £36,000 plus travel and other expenses.

His responsibility is to oversee the work of the various Lords committees and ensure they are not working in conflict with one another and using their time and resources to best effect. He has also sat on the committee responsible for members’ privileges and conduct.

Sewel is a former senior vice-principal of the University of Aberdeen and a former parliamentary undersecretary of state at Scottish Office, serving as the minister for agriculture, environment and fisheries between 1997-1999.

Sewel is not required to resign from the Lords until an investigation by peers. It is also open to the upper house to sanction a peer by denying them access to Lords facilities or suspend them from parliament for a specific period.