A TORY peer has been banned from the House of Lords bar for a year after "inappropriate and aggressive" behaviour.
Parliament has heard that Lord Ranger of Northwood has had a "serious affect" on his young women victims through his bullying and harassment.
The House of Commons has been invited to impose a similar sanction, as the upper chamber also backed the suspension of Ranger from the red benches for three weeks.
The move follows an incident of bullying and harassment in Parliament’s Strangers’ Bar in January.
A report by the Lords Conduct Committee said Ranger had been “visibly drunk” and made “various inappropriate comments” to a group of people.
He then returned to the same group and “acted aggressively, shouting and swearing”, calling them “f*****g useless” and “invading their personal space”.
Lord Ranger, a former adviser to Boris Johnson who was handed a peerage in the former prime minister’s resignation honours list, subsequently apologised to the two complainants.
He also resigned the Conservative whip to sit as a non-affiliated peer.
The House of Lords Standards Commissioner originally recommended Lord Ranger be suspended for just one week, but the Conduct Committee felt this “failed to do justice to the seriousness of the offence” and so increased the proposed penalty.
Speaking at Westminster, Conduct Committee chairwoman Baroness Manningham-Buller said: “This report relates to an incident of bullying and harassment which took place in January in the Stranger’s Bar in the House of Commons.
“I shall not rehearse the details, these are all set out in the report and are not disputed by Lord Ranger.
“But there is no question that this was a serious case of bullying behaviour fuelled by alcohol, which has had a serious affect on the two young women who were its victims.”
On the 12-month Lords booze ban, the former MI5 chief added: “If this report is agreed today the Commons authorities will be invited to consider whether to impose a similar measure in facilities administered by that House.”
The recommended sanctions had been due to be voted on by peers in early June but was delayed because of the election.
Noting the third week of Lord Ranger’s suspension would now fall within the forthcoming summer recess, Manningham-Buller said: “This is not ideal but we are unlikely to have three clear sitting weeks now until October.
“Waiting another three months would not be fair to any of the parties in this case.”
In its report, the committee noted the impact of the bullying on the complainants, one of whom said the incident had made her “more wary about her interactions with people” and left her with trouble sleeping.
