Baroness Mayer faces suspension over offensive racial remarks

The Baroness, who called an Indian-origin colleague “Lord Poppadom”, faces suspension from the House of Lords after an investigation found her comments amounted to harassment.

The Lords conduct committee has recommended the Conservative Baroness Mayer be suspended for three weeks over her comments, which amount to “race-related” harassment.

The Lady Mayor was also reprimanded for touching a black MP’s hair without permission.

He initially declined to comment but later apologized for both incidents.

The committee also recommended suspending former Labor peer Lord Stone of Blackheath for six months for bullying security staff after calling them “fat” and “stupid”.

The committee upheld a complaint that Lady Meyer had twice used the derogatory term to refer to Lord Dholakia during a taxi ride during a visit to Rwanda with Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights in February.

The comments came after Lady Mayer reportedly mistook him for Lord Popat, another peer of south-east Asian heritage.

Lord Dholakia was not present, but others on the committee, including Labor MP Bel Ribeiro-Eadie, confronted him over his comments, the report said.

Lady Mayer initially denied using the word, but in front of the evidence of two witnesses she admitted that she might have said it – blaming a long day and a dinner where she drank “probably three glasses of wine”. Was.

The investigation found that Lady Mayoress had breached harassment rules in her behavior towards Lord Dholakia, which had a “racial element”.

She then asked Ribeiro-Eddie if she could touch her braids, and did so before getting an answer.

Ribeiro-Eddie said she laughed at the incident but added that it made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”.

The Lady Mayor said she saw Ribeiro-Eddie’s reaction and immediately regretted her actions.

The report said he had apologized for his actions in both cases.

Along with the three-week suspension, the committee recommended Lady Mayoress undergo special behavioral training.

The 71-year-old co-founded the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and is the widow of Sir Christopher Mayer, Britain’s former ambassador to the US.

He was appointed to the House of Lords by Boris Johnson in 2018.

The committee also called for Lord Stone to be suspended for six months after a separate investigation found that he had threatened parliamentary security staff.

The former Marks and Spencer executive admitted using an “aggressive” tone when approached by security staff after leaving her suitcase unattended at the entrance to the parliamentary estate, contrary to the rules.

The report said: “In subsequent telephone and in-person conversations with security officers, Lord Stone raised his voice, gesticulated, talked about them and described (one officer) as ‘fat and stupid’ told.”

He refused to remove his suitcase and used rude and offensive language.

Lord Stone appealed against the initial investigation by the Lords Standards Commissioner, which found that he had bullied staff, but the conduct committee upheld the findings.

He was previously found guilty of sexually harassing staff by the commissioner in 2019, which led to him losing the Labor whip.

After the two charges against him were upheld, he agreed to attend a course of “bespoke training and behavior coaching sessions”.

In Thursday’s report, the committee said: “The present case demonstrates that Lord Stone’s clear pattern of poor behavior continues.

“Despite the hope we expressed in 2020, Lord Stone is no more aware of his behavior now than he was then.

“His continued inability to control his behavior and treat staff with respect and courtesy is unacceptable.”

Peers must approve the approval before it can be implemented, with a vote to do so expected to take place in early 2025.