Sunday 26 July
The Sun on Sunday publishes a video apparently showing Lord Sewel, deputy speaker of the House of Lords, taking cocaine with sex workers. He is shown using a £5 note to snort a white powder off a tabletop and was heard to call women “whores”. The paper said the footage was filmed in Sewel’s flat in Dolphin Square.
Sewel is also recorded complaining about the level of appearance allowances at the House of Lords.
11.20am: Lord Sewel resigns as deputy speaker. He also stands down as chairman of the Lords committee for privileges and conduct which investigates breaches of conduct by peers.
Labour MP John Mann says the peer should retire from the Lords voluntarily before he is expelled.
12pm: The Speaker of the Lords, Lady D’Souza, says Sewel’s alleged behaviour was “shocking and unacceptable” . In a statement she says:
[The] revelations about the behaviour of Lord Sewel are both shocking and unacceptable. Lord Sewel has resigned as chairman of committees. The House of Lords will continue to uphold standards in public life and will not tolerate departure from these standards.
In a letter [pdf] to the House of Lords commissioner for standards D’Souza says she is referring the matter to Scotland Yard.
Monday 27 July
11am: The Labour party suspends Sewel.
12pm: David Cameron suggests Lord Sewel should be expelled from the Lords over what he called “very serious” allegations. Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Cameron says: “These are very serious allegations. I think it’s right he has stood down from his committee posts and I’m sure further questions will be asked about whether it is appropriate to have someone legislating and acting in the House of Lords if they have genuinely behaved in this way.
1pm: Former Commons Speaker Lady Boothroyd describes Sewel as a “bad apple” who has brought the upper house into disrepute.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme, she says: “I think the best thing that could happen now – and I know he has said he is going to relinquish his post as chairman of ways and means – [is] he should take a quiet way out of the back door of the House of Lords. I am sad for his family.”
5pm: Sewel announces he will take leave of absence from the Lords. In a letter to the clerk of parliaments, David Beamish, Sewel writes:
I wish to take leave of absence from the house as soon as it can be arranged. I also wish to make clear that in doing so I have no intention of returning to the house in any way until the current investigations have been completed, when in the light of their outcome I will review my long term position. I believe this is compatible with due process.
6pm: Police officers raid Sewel’s flat under the Misuse of Drugs Act. No arrests are made. The Metropolitan police later confirms that it has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of drug related offences by a member of the House of Lords.
Tuesday 28 July
7am: Sewel announces his resignation from the House of Lords and apologises for “pain and embarrassment” he has caused.
In a statement, the crossbench peer says:
I have today written to the clerk of the parliaments terminating my membership of the House of Lords. The question of whether my behaviour breached the code of conduct is important, but essentially technical. The bigger questions are whether my behaviour is compatible with membership of the House of Lords and whether my continued membership would damage and undermine public confidence in the House of Lords. I believe the answer to both these questions means that I can best serve the house by leaving it.
