I have known of allegations of sexual pestering against Chris Rennard for at least five years, and I find it impossible to believe Nick Clegg has not known for longer.
But I am baffled as to what the current fuss is about. The allegations of which I know are not of criminal offences, but the sort of inappropriate workplace conduct which should lose you your job. And it was always my understanding that was why Rennard resigned as Lib Dem Chief Executive four years ago. Unless there are new allegations which are actually criminal (and I have still not heard that alleged) what is actually supposed to happen now?
Why the allegations about Rennard were not published at the time, I don’t know. All the senior political journalists knew of them. There are some things, like Prince Phillip’s love life or Jack Straw’s visits to a South London address, which are well known but our corporate media somehow decides to hold back on. One group of people who do know every detail of such matters are the Metropolitan Police’s close protection officers, one of whom allegedly committed suicide recently.
Several things are happening with the Rennard “news”. Clegg has lied. The Tory media have dug up very old, stale news especially for the Eastleigh by-election. The current hysteria about all sex-related allegations (lead news story – Rennard; next item some dodgy Archbishop; next item BBC/Savile) propels this bit of old nonsense effortlessly to the top of news programmes. Meanwhile the bankers are still getting all our money courtesy of the state, Israel is devastating Palestine, the Bahraini despots oppress their people, Saudi and the US stoke terrible war in Syria. But evidently none of that is nearly as important as Rennard’s alleged rather pathetic attempts to get laid.
@ Mary (23h35) :
“Jackpot time at the ‘old fruits’ machine”
I don’t think the ‘old fruits’ image is the wisest one for you to employ, Mary..
*******
La vita è bella, life is good! (lots of fruit is healthy)
“Liberal Democrat officials are to meet Metropolitan Police officers to discuss allegations made against the party’s former chief executive Lord Rennard.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21583533
If complaints of sexual assault have been lodged with the police why has Lord Rennard not been arrested, like any other person would and interrogated?
Should the police not be taking statements from the women involved instead of meeting LibDem officials?
Habbabkuk
Is this you and your missus?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-21577948
Yes indeed, Dougie, well spotted!
Any answer/info/enlightenment yet on the unemployed/employed question that was put to you a few days ago?
“Why has Lord Rennard not yet been arrested?”
A very good question, which I feel you should address to the police force concerned. Would you do that on our behalf? Thanks in advance.
“Should the police not be taking statements from the women involved?”
Indubitably! Perhaps they are talking to Liberal Party officials to find out who they are. Think, Dougie, think! (even if it hurts)
*****
La vita è bella, life is good! (suppport your local police)
I note that there was no comment on mine from which I assume it is admitted to be correct.
The intent of the ‘presences’ of course is to blight the blog and to bore people so stiff that they give up coming here. They certainly do not add anything to our knowledge or contribute.
Au contraire mon cheri Mary,
Despite your occasional interesting link, if anything it is your irrational intolerance and repetitive snide comments that blight this blog.
People with views or beliefs different from yourself are not intrinsically evil or sub-human, you seem to utterly fail to understand this concept.
Have a nice day.
Lord Rennard — Christopher John Rennard Esquire, MBE, having been created Baron Rennard, of Wavertree in the County of Merseyside, for life by Letters Patent dated in the forenoon of 21st July 1999, was introduced between the Baroness Maddock and the Lord Clement-Jones, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and Garter King of Arms preceding; and took and subscribed the oath pursuant to statute. July 1999 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/minutes/990727/ldminute.htm
Lady Maddock.
One time member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. (no irony here when read in conjunction with the expenses piece below)
Wife of Beith, arch LD Friend of Israel.http://ldfi.org.uk/the-committee/
Trougher with Beith. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5364659/MPs-expenses-would-be-Speaker-Sir-Alan-Beith-and-his-wife-claimed-177000.html
http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/diana-maddock/27081
:::
Lord Clement Jones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Clement-Jones,_Baron_Clement-Jones
With DLA Piper a giant multi-national legal outfit where Mrs Cleggover was a partner. http://www.dlapiper.com/tim_clement-jones/
http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/timothy-clement-jones/26580
:::
What a shower!
Dear Presence Why don’t you f off and find another blog to blight. You just pester genuine people. It’s truth and justice we are about here, not concepts you and yours would recognize.
‘If complaints of sexual assault have been lodged with the police why has Lord Rennard not been arrested, like any other person would and interrogated?’
The plods may well be trying to ascertain whether Rennard’s ‘inappropriate advances’ were common assault (not an arrestable offence) or sexual assault (which is). In Rennard’s case that would appear to depend on how low down the back, or up the leg, his ‘wandering hands’ actually strayed.
As for the dissembling Craig identified in Cleggover’s comments, that appears to have gone viral within the LibDem hierarchy; witness Simon Hughes on Newsnight yesterday, or Ed Davey here in his local rag-
http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/news/10250453.Edward_Davey___I_did_not_hear_Rennard_rumours_/?ref=rss
@ Mary (11h49) :
“I note that there was no comment on mine from which I assume it is admitted to be correct”
What a curiously stiff, Soviet-style sentence! But never mind.
At last I’ve understood why you almost never react to correction or criticism – your silence indicates you admit the correction or criticism to be correct.
Thank you!
*******
La vita è bella, life is good! (it’s good to progress)
@ CE :
“Au contraire, mon cheri Mary”
I would strongly advise you, CE, not to raise Mary’s hopes only to have to dash them at a later stage 🙂
Given her Saintly status with the Eminences on this blog, even a more cautious “ma chère Marie” might give some people the wrong impression…..
I quite agree Old Mark. Something very strange is going on within the LD crowd.
I have just been reading about this female judge who was a prosecution witness in the Huhne Pryce trial but whom the CPS have now taken off.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/top-female-barrister-constance-briscoe-investigated-over-leaking-chris-huhne-case-court-told-8511662.html
She was arrested last October when there was a hush up.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/constance-briscoe-judge-who-wrote-misery-memoir-suspended-after-arrest-8203907.html
~~~~
Just to say that Davey and Huhne are here welcoming members of the Knesset.
Lib Dems Meet Cross Party Delegation from Israel
In December 2009, Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians met five visiting Members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset). The visiting politicians each represented a different political party in Israel.
(photo)
Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians: LDFI President, Sir Alan Beith MP together with MPs Ed Davey, Chris Huhne, Lynne Featherstone and Willie Rennie and Lib Dem Peers Lord Wallace, Lord Dholakia and Baroness Neuberger.
Israeli Members of Knesset (Parliament): Yitzhak Vaknin MK – Shas, Tzipi Hotovely MK – Likud, Anastassia Michaeli MK – Yisrael Beiteinu, Majalli Whbee MK and Nachman Shai MK – Kadima.
http://ldfi.org.uk/events/previous-events/
It’s a pity he’s called Lord Rennard, isn’t it, because it obliges us to call this matter foxy rather than fishy. Now if he were only called Lord Tench or Lord Pyke…..
*****
La vita è bella, life is good!
Jives
Re: Clegg’s separatism. Is that the same as autonobism?
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
26 Feb, 2013 – 11:37 am
“Any answer/info/enlightenment yet on the unemployed/employed question that was put to you a few days ago?”
I merely said that the unemployment/employment figures from the official sites I quoted were rather confusing for the average personage (like me for example). I know fuck all about the subject – not my area of expertise.
“A very good question, which I feel you should address to the police force concerned.”
I have officially written to the Met and other police forces on similar matters in the past. One does not get a straight answer from the bastards – a bit like you actually.
Talking of chicken soup, I wonder which clever chef is responsible for this interesting recipe:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2198348/Is-love-air-Chris-Huhnes-ex-wife-Vicky-Pryce-Labour-MP.html
Re Habbakuk – whoever or whatever this person represents, appears to be a force intent on destroying all attempts to throw light on or open up debate on matters that are of concern to us all. Juvenile, sixth form labelling of those contributors with whom it disagrees, is a desperate attempt to recruit followers to the cause – and one at least has adopted “Eminences”. Pathetic.
OldMark
26 Feb, 2013 – 2:12 pm
“The plods may well be trying to ascertain whether Rennard’s ‘inappropriate advances’ were common assault (not an arrestable offence) or sexual assault (which is).”
Yes I agree but I still say that the police should ascertain that from the alleged victim’s statements and, if they (the police) suspect an arrestable offence has been committed, then the next step would be feeling Lord Rennard’s collar; not talking to LibDem officials.
What I am suggesting is that, if the accused is “someone of note” or famous, the police appear to treat the victims with contempt and the accused with far greater respect than ordinary citizens would be.
@ Rose (20h28) :
I represent nobody except myself and am not trying to recruit anyone to what you imagine wrongly to be a “cause”. I imagine the same goes for other contributors like CE and Resident Dissident.
@ Doug Scorgie (19h50) :
Fair enough. I was simply under the impression, from the sneers you threw in my direction, that you did have some expertise in the matter.
@ Doug Scorgie (20h46) :
I would agree that the chances are that someone of note will often get handled more “gently”. But not always, cf. Chris Huhne? And should we not perhaps await developments regarding Lord Rennard – investigations of this nature might take longer than 48 hours or so.
No Habbakuk – I dont “imagine” – what a gentle put down – I make up my mind, after much reflection.
@ Rose : it wasn’t meant to be a put down, gentle or otherwise. But if you have reflected much and come to a firm opinion, could I ask you what you believe my “cause” to be? It obviously cannot be to stifle debate or to cast darkness as I haven’t noticed that any of the Eminences or indeed other commenters have fallen silent.
******
La vita è bella, life is good! (and fiat lux)
I have no idea what your cause is, but that there is one, to quote St Basil is “bleedin obvious”. You tell me.
@Mary
“It’s truth and justice we are about here, not concepts you and yours would recognize.”
No Mary what you are about is assigning a label to those with who you disagree be it Jewish/Zionist/Tory/New Labour/visited Israel or any other of your pet hates as a basis for ignoring and rubbishing their arguments. What is the truth is that people are not as black and white as you believe and you cannot rubbish anyone’s entire set of beliefs on the basis that they hold one or more that you disagree with.
I also note that you have pointedly failed to address my point about distinguishing between Judaism and Zionism.
“What I am suggesting is that, if the accused is “someone of note” or famous, the police appear to treat the victims with contempt and the accused with far greater respect than ordinary citizens would be.”
I agree entirely Doug, the Swedish police and prosecutors favourable treatment of Julian Assange was misguided at best.
Anyone been following Paul Tucker’s (of the Bank of England) idea of negative interest rates on money deposited at the BoE by UK commercial banks? I remember the Swiss Central Bank and the Swiss commercial banks using negative interest rates 30 or 40 years ago. The aim was different of course (to discourage inflows of hot money) but the manoeuvre was rather successful.
*******
La vita è bella, life is good!
CE: “I agree entirely Doug, the Swedish police and prosecutors favourable treatment of Julian Assange was misguided at best.”
This is where you prove, for all your verbose posts, that you are nothing but a jackass dolt of a bigot.
Les Piss: “What is the truth is that people are not as black and white as you believe….”
Yes, true for people like you, because they are confused. And from confusion come’s more confusion.
But truth itself is not confused
Villager I wonder if the three of them, RD, H and CE, are joined at the hip or are in fact three manifestations of the same person. I try to ignore them and their puerile catty stuff. In the real world, I would have them for slander.
Cleggover was waylaid on a LBC phone in this morning when Cathy Newman of Ch 4 came on the line and asked him to confirm if Rennard had been sacked on health grounds or for other reasons. He sounded very flustered and also looked it on a video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21600057
@ Mary (09h58)
If we were the same person then I suppose the moderator would have noticed by now, wouldn’t you say? IP numbers and all that?
“In the real world I would have them for slander” :
how dare you, you vile viper-tongue? In the real world it would be you who’d be in court for slander, harassment or incitement to hatred or any combination of the three.