The Liberal Democrat peer Chris Rennard has stepped down from his party’s ruling body after a backlash by party members following his election to the position last week.

Lord Rennard, who was publicly accused of sexual harassment by four women in 2013, was voted on to the party’s federal executive by fellow Lib Dem peers on Thursday, provoking complaints from party members. Rennard has denied any wrongdoing.

Rennard’s statement announcing his resignation came minutes after the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, called on the peer to stand down from the party’s federal executive, arguing that his presence was not in the party’s best interests as “the levels of anger and division have shown”.

In response to Rennard’s election, more than 200 members signed a petition calling for a special conference to debate an amendment to the party’s constitution to remove the representation of the Lords on its executive.

Rennard said he was resigning “in the interests of party unity”. His statement said: “[On] the basis that the party will over time implement in full all of the proposals in Helena Morrissey’s final report [into the party’s handling of sexual harassment allegations], I have agreed to withdraw from the federal executive. It is with sadness that I do so, because I enjoy the support of my parliamentary colleagues, and very many party members at all levels.”

The peer said: “A week ago, I was elected by the votes of the Liberal Democrat members of the House of Lords to be their representative on the party’s federal executive. Any Lib Dem peer could have stood, all of them could vote, and I was elected by 44 votes to 25. Since then a number of party members have objected to that outcome and sought to effectively overturn it by removing the right of the Lib Dem peers to have a representative on it.

“I was disappointed that in a party called the Liberal Democrats there should be such a challenge to the result of a democratic election. I recognise, however, that there has been much controversy in the party and this has continued partly because it has been very poor in communicating to its members the outcomes of all the various processes investigating allegations made against me.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, Farron said: “I have not spoken out until now as I have been giving Chris time to reflect on the party’s reaction to his election. I have decided it is time to make clear publicly that I do not believe it is in the interests of the party for Chris to take up his position on the FE.”

Writing on a Facebook group for more than 1,000 Lib Dem members, Lord Greaves hit out at the four women who accused his colleague of sexual harassment, saying they had pursued “a deliberate vendetta” against the peer.

“I certainly accuse some of the women of not telling the truth and of a deliberate vendetta where the facts became lost in the fog of vitriol,” he wrote.

Responding to Greaves’s comments, Susan Gaszczak, a former Lib Dem councillor and one of the four women to make accusations against Rennard, said she had been telling the truth and that she had been found to be credible. “This latest public argument is not down to my actions or the actions of the three other women involved,” she said. “I have left the party, as have the other three, and am enjoying life outside this mess.”

Farron stressed that Rennard had been entitled to stand for election and that Lib Dem peers were entitled to elect him, but that the call for a special conference demonstrated that the party’s leadership still has “some way to go to convince our members that the party’s culture has changed”.

In January 2014, an investigation led by a QC said there was insufficient evidence to justify disciplinary action against Rennard, after four activists publicly accused him of touching them inappropriately. However, Alistair Webster QC, who carried out the inquiry, said that: “In my opinion, the evidence of behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the complainants was broadly credible.”

Two of the women involved – Bridget Harris, a former adviser to Nick Clegg, and Susan Gaszczak – resigned from the party when Rennard’s suspension was lifted the following August.

The peer, as former chief executive of the party, has apologised if he inadvertently made the “women feel uncomfortable”, but he has always denied sexually inappropriate behaviour.





