Labour peer should be suspended for bullying member of security staff, Lords Committee recommends

Labour peer Lord Pendry should be suspended from the House of Lords for a week for bullying a member of security staff, the Lords Conduct Committee has recommended.

It comes after an incident in July 2021.

The peer confronted a security guard who had found one of his guests walking unescorted near the Lords chamber in the Palace of Westminster.

A report by Lords Standards Commissioner Akbar Khan found that Lord Pendry was “verbally aggressive” to the security guard and showed “intimidating behaviour”.

Lord Pendry denied a claim he grabbed the guard’s radio, but the guard and a witness both described physical contact “in an inappropriate, unwarranted and non-socially distanced manner”.

The House of Lords will be asked to agree the report and punishment early in the new session.

Mr Khan's report concluded: “It is never acceptable to approach a member of staff in a threatening manner or to touch them without their consent.

“Lord Pendry’s comments about staff ‘flexing their muscles’ against MPs and peers exhibit an attitude which is out of step with the expectation that all members of the parliamentary community are entitled to be treated professionally and respectfully in the workplace, and to seek a remedy when they are not, in accordance with the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.”