Former Lib Dem, who denies offering woman a peerage for sex, will step down immediately, reports say

A former Liberal Democrat peer found to have sexually harassed a woman and to have promised her a peerage if she slept with him has resigned from the House of Lords, shortly before a report concluded that the investigation against him was fair and robust.

Anthony Lester, 82, a human rights barrister who was to be suspended until June 2022 for harassing and making “corrupt inducements” to the rights campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera, told the Times the case “has taken a serious toll on my health”.

His decision to quit will end a long-running row during which the cross-party Lords privileges and conduct committee repeatedly insisted the evidence against Lester was firm, while he and his allies argued the inquiry had not been fair.

The Lords voted against Lester’s punishment in November, after a debate during which a number of peers cast doubt on the testimony of Sanghera, prompting anger from several members of the upper house.

Sanghera, a long-time campaigner against forced marriage, said the decision by the Lords left her feeling “victimised all over again”, and with no faith in the disciplinary procedure.

The suspension was announced a month ago after the privileges and conduct committee concluded that Lester had sexually harassed Sanghera at his home, and later told her: “If you sleep with me, I will make you a baroness within a year.”

Lester, who has resigned the Lib Dem whip, denied the claims, first made by the Lords’ commissioner for standards, and appealed against them. When the suspension was due to be confirmed by the Lords, usually a routine matter, a number of his friends and former colleagues turned out to vote it down.

During the debate some peers cast doubt on Sanghera’s allegations because she had been friendly to Lester on later occasions. They also argued that Lester should have been able to cross-examine his accuser.

The matter was sent back to the privileges and conduct committee, which released a report on Tuesday reiterating its conclusions. “We remain firmly of the view that the commissioner conducted herself to the highest standards of fairness and rigour required for an investigation into a complaint of this nature,” it found.

The report added: “We hope that, having read this supplementary report, the House will agree to the committee’s original recommendations, and to the consequential resolution to suspend Lord Lester.”

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The Lords will vote again on the matter on Monday. While Lester’s resignation means it will not consider his suspension, peers will be asked to vote to endorse the report, thus adding their support to the conclusions.

The vigorous campaign against the suspension by allies of Lester, and particularly the efforts to discredit Sanghera, has dismayed campaigners against harassment in parliament.

Sanghera said after the initial Lords vote to block the suspension that she would not recommend other people make formal complaints: “I would actually say the opposite. I would not want to subject them to what I’ve been through.”