Baroness suspended over ‘Lord Poppadom’ comments denied natural justice

Natural justice has been denied to a Tory baroness who was suspended for referring to a fellow peer of Indian descent as "Lord Poppadom," according to peers.The Lords' Commissioner for Standards has come under fire from a group of 27 members of the House of Lords following Baroness Meyer's three-week suspension. It was discovered that the peer had repeatedly referred to Liberal Democrat peer Lord Dholakia as "Lord Poppadom" when in a taxi in Rwanda in February, Daily Dazzling Dawn understand.The peers said that the commissioner's investigative process was "at fault" and did not "adhere to the principles of natural justice" in a letter . They added, "The commissioner makes the decision to investigate, conducts the investigation, and determines, akin to a judge, what the appropriate consequences should be."An attorney may accompany the accused to the investigation, but the attorney may not represent the accused. Cross-examination is not entitled, even in cases where the facts are contested and took place a long time ago.

‘Balance of probabilities’

“The allegation needs to be proved only on a balance of probabilities. There is no provision for all documents to be made available to both sides.”Lady Meyer, founder of the charity Action Against Abduction, initially denied using the term before saying she did not remember saying it, but that it was “possible” she had done so.

The Commissioner for Standards found that she made the remark “on the balance of probabilities” and that there was a “racial element” in the incident regarding Lord Dholakia, who described it as “derogatory behaviour”.

It recommended last week that Lady Meyer be suspended for three weeks and undertake “bespoke” behaviour training.

The group of peers – which includes Lord Forysth of Drumlean, who served in John Major’s cabinet, and Baroness Deech, the cross-bench peer – said the comments would in the past “have been disputed in private and amicably”.

‘Lasting damage’

“These procedures may have been sufficient years ago when there was less publicity and more robustness of exchange,” they said.

“Given the lasting damage to reputation, the publicity inside and outside Parliament, and the severity of the sanctions, it is time to bring the procedures into line with natural justice as applicable in other settings.

“One hopes that the review of the Code of Conduct currently under way will take on that task.”

Lady Meyer also admitted to touching the hair of Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a black Labour MP, without consent, which was found to have been “humiliating and degrading”.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy said that every time she spoke about the incident in detail, she “ended up close to, or in floods of tears”.