Jewish peer Lord Lester quits amid accusations of sexual harassment

A Jewish peer accused of offering a charity worker a place in the House of Lords in return for sex has quit the upper chamber.

Lord Lester, who was accused of sexual harassment by Jasvinder Sanghera, said he was leaving because he had neither the strength nor the health to fight the allegations.

Lester’s conduct was investigated by a Lords committee, which recommended he be expelled. This was later reduced to a four-year suspension, which was itself blocked by fellow peers.

Lester, 82, who denies telling the charity founder that if she slept with him he would make her a baroness, this week said: “I do not have the strength or health to continue. I am sorry this issue has caused so much upset to everyone involved.”

The Liberal Democrats, which had welcomed the Lords’ report and recommendations, said the peer had “made the right decision” to retire.

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