Pak-origin Nazir Ahmed faced expulsion from UK House of Lords for alleged sexual assault, quits

Nazir Ahmed, 63, who has participated in several anti-India demonstrations in London over the years, was a member of the Labour Party until 2013

The conduct committee of the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday said Nazir Ahmed, a Pakistan-origin member, has resigned but added that it had recommended his expulsion following inquiries that concluded he breached the House’s code of conduct.

A Union flag flies atop the Victoria Tower at Britain's Houses of Parliament, incorporating the House of Lords and the House of Commons, in London on October 20. (AFP/ File)

Ahmed, 63, who has participated in several anti-India demonstrations in London over the years, was a member of the Labour Party until 2013.

The committee said, “Lord Ahmed resigned from the House of Lords on November 14 but the report, which was agreed by the committee and seen by Lord Ahmed before that date, recommends that he should have been expelled.”

The committee published a report following an appeal by Ahmed against earlier findings by the House’s commissioner for standards into allegations of a sexual nature with a member of the public in 2017. It dismissed the appeal.

The committee upheld the findings of the commissioner that Ahmed breached the code of conduct by failing to act on his personal honour in the discharge of his parliamentary activities, and recommended his expulsion from the House, instead of a lengthy suspension.

The committee said it considered the sanction of suspension, but concluded, “The abuse of the privileged position of membership for a member’s own gain or gratification, at the expense of the vulnerable or less privileged, involves a fundamental breach of trust and merits the gravest sanction.”

“Even though it is possible to think of even more serious breaches, the case in all its circumstances which we have set out crosses the threshold calling for immediate and definitive expulsion,” the nine-member committee added.