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Lord Sewel is facing a police investigation after quitting as Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords over a video allegedly showing him taking drugs with prostitutes.
Lords speaker Baroness D'Souza branded the peer's behaviour "shocking and unacceptable" and said she was calling in Scotland Yard.
“Today’s revelations about the behaviour of Lord Sewel are both shocking and unacceptable. Lord Sewel has this morning resigned as chairman of committees,” Lady D’Souza said in a statement.
“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.”
The Sun on Sunday footage showed what appeared to be a naked Lord Sewel, who had responsibility for enforcing standards in the Upper House, snorting white powder from a woman’s breasts using a five-pound note.
In the film obtained by the Sun on Sunday, Lord Sewel is shown with two women at his flat in Dolphin Square, Pimlico, a couple of miles from parliament.
He apparently paid one for the night with a cheque for £200, dated July 22nd. In between snorting lines of white powder, Lord Sewel is heard complaining that he struggles to afford the £1,000 a month rent on the flat.
The peer is asked whether he receives expenses and explains that he now gets a flat-rate allowance of £200 a day.
“It’s all changed and disappeared. People were making false claims,” he said. “Members of her Lordship’s House who are right thieves, rogues and b*****ds at times. Wonderful people that they are.”
In fact, the allowance for Lords is £300 a day and did not apply to Lord Sewel. The peer had a salary of £84,500 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.