A prominent Conservative peer and donor bullied and harassed a female journalist after she publicly criticised him and an organisation he runs, the Lords standards commissioner has ruled.
Rami Ranger has apologised and promised to attend a behavioural course after the House of Lords commissioner for standards found he had broken the house’s code of conduct with a barrage of messages and tweets aimed at Poonam Joshi.
Lord Ranger is one of a number of high-profile Tories to have faced investigation this year by parliamentary authorities. Others include peer Michelle Mone, who remains under investigation for allegedly benefiting from public contracts that she had recommended, and the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who is being investigated for not declaring his wife’s interest in a childcare agency.
In a scathing report, the Lords standards commissioner has ruled: “There was an imbalance of power between Lord Ranger and Ms Joshi by reason of Lord Ranger’s authority, his public position as a member of the House of Lords, his wealth and his social standing, and his connections and associations with other senior political figures. He was acutely aware of this imbalance of power and abused it by persistently undermining, humiliating and denigrating Ms Joshi.”
He added: “There is a clear pattern of behaviour involving the use of language that belittles and undermines Ms Joshi.”
Ranger is a well-known Conservative donor, having given £1.5m to the party in his lifetime through individual donations and via his consumer goods company Sun Mark International. He is close to the former prime minister Theresa May and is an influential figure in the British Indian community, having helped set up the Hindu Forum of Britain.
Joshi, a freelance journalist, has criticised the HFB on a number of occasions for the right-wing views of some of its members, prompting a series of tweets and WhatsApp messages from Ranger.
In one tweet, the peer accused Joshi of “showing your poor upbringing by bullying”. In another he said: “You have a big mouth. Now shut it.” In another he said: “You have become the epitome of filth and garbage reflecting your upbringing and showing what masterpiece your parents have given to society, a twisted personality.”
The Lords commissioner found his repeated tweets and messages constituted bullying and harassment, but was not intrinsically sexist in nature.
The report adds that he worsened the offence by trying to justify it as a cultural phenomenon. “He demonstrated limited insight into his behaviour, preferring to excuse himself by saying that his conduct was somehow acceptable in an Asian cultural context,” it says.
The commissioner also criticised some of the messages Joshi had sent to Ranger in their exchanges, however, saying there had been “a very significant element of provocation caused by Ms Joshi”. In her tweets, Joshi called Ranger a “disgrace” and tweeted about his donations to the Tory party with the hashtag #CashforHonours.
He said Joshi and Ranger had both sought to undermine each other during their Twitter exchanges, and recommended Joshi apologise to Ranger as well as being issued with an apology of her own.
In his response, which was published as part of the report, Ranger said: “The commissioner has found my behaviour fell short of the high standards I expect of myself, and which others expect of me as a sitting member of the House of Lords. A have expressed my remorse and I apologise to Ms Joshi.”
Ranger promised to undertake social media training and to re-attend a seminar on the parliamentary behaviour code – actions which the commissioner said had persuaded him not to suspend Ranger from parliament altogether.
In her official response, Joshi said: “The commissioner’s report has given me the opportunity to reflect on my own actions, which have not met the standards I have set for myself. I am remorseful and accept that I bear a share of the responsibility for the circumstances which have arisen, and I apologise to Lord Ranger.”
