A Conservative peer is facing suspension from the House of Lords for calling a British-Asian peer “Lord Poppadom” and touching an MP’s braids without permission.
Catherine Meyer was accused of referring to Navnit Dholakia, a Liberal Democrat peer, as “Lord Poppadom” twice while in a taxi during a visit to Rwanda with a parliamentary committee this year.
She had previously apologised for mistakenly referring to him as “Lord Popat”, another peer of South Asian heritage.
On the same trip, Meyer was accused of complimenting the Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s hair and asking whether she could touch it. Before Ribeiro-Addy could reply, Meyer lifted one of the MP’s braids, according to a conduct report published on Thursday.
Ribeiro-Addy said it made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”, adding: “The idea that I would do that to another woman, particularly a white woman, ask her if it’s hers, ask to touch it and make a big deal out of it, it just wouldn’t happen …
“When you’ve seen it explained to people in the past why it’s offensive to touch black people’s – black women in particular – hair … I don’t have the right to protest because I’m seen as being rude or difficult, and it’s just not for me to have an issue with it … to me, it’s definitely a micro-aggression,” she said.
Meyer, 71, said initially that the “Lord Poppadom” accusation was “baseless” but later admitted the incident took place at the end of a long day and after a dinner at which she drank up to three glasses of wine.
She was found to have breached harassment rules with behaviour towards Dholakia, 87, that had a “racial element”, the standards watchdog found.
Meyer said she was unaware that touching the hair of Ribeiro-Addy, 39, would be unwelcome but realised from the MP’s subsequent body language that “Oh, gosh, I did the wrong thing.”
Meyer is the widow of Sir Christopher Meyer, the British former ambassador to the US. She describes herself online as “Franco-Russian by blood, British by heart”.
In its report, the House of Lords conduct committee said it endorsed the three-week suspension and “bespoke behaviour training” proposed by the commissioner.
A former Marks & Spencer executive faces a six-month suspension from the Lords for repeatedly breaking parliament’s rules on bullying and harassment.
Andrew Stone, 82, demonstrated a “clear pattern [[of] poor behaviour” after he bullied two parliamentary security officers in an incident relating to a suitcase, the Lords conduct committee found.
It is the third time since 2019 that Stone, a former joint managing director of M&S and a former Labour peer who is not now affiliated to any party, has been found to have bullied or harassed parliamentary staff.
According to the latest findings, he used an “aggressive and demeaning” tone when contacted by security staff after leaving his suitcase unattended by an entrance to the parliamentary estate.
“In subsequent exchanges with security officers, on the telephone and in person, Lord Stone raised his voice, gesticulated, spoke over them and described (an officer) as ‘thick and stupid’,” it said. “He refused to move his suitcase and told the security officer, ‘I don’t care if they piss on it’.”
Stone admitted using “rude words” and becoming “argumentative and aggressive” but denied “using my authority to push people around or bully”, adding that he “identified with being on the autistic spectrum”.
Complaining that security officers had insisted on “the rules”, he told the Lords commissioner for standards: “Perhaps I need [to] try not to be angered by this sort of senseless, inconvenient ruling.”
Peers need to approve the sanctions before they can be implemented, with a vote expected early in 2025.
