Baroness Catherine Meyer, a Conservative Party peer, has been accused of referencing her Liberal Democrat colleague Lord Navnit Dholakia as “Lord Poppadom” during a visit to Rwanda earlier this year.
A report upheld a complaint of harassment with a “racial element” in relation to her conduct towards Lord Dholakia, Tanzania-born peer of Indian heritage and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. The Lords Conduct Committee accepted the findings of the Lords Commissioner for Standards for a three-week suspension from the House of Lords and behaviour training. It noted that Lord Dholakia felt “shocked” and “very uncomfortable” and stated in his complaint that he could not continue as a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) alongside Meyer and went on to submit his formal complaint to the Commissioners for Standards in April.
The Commissioner found: “Due to the significance of Baroness Meyer’s breach of the Code of Conduct and the impact of her behaviour on the complainants, I consider a short suspension to be justified in the circumstances. Accordingly, I recommend that Baroness Meyer be suspended from the House for three weeks.
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“In determining the length of suspension, I considered incident 1, where Baroness Meyer twice referred to Lord Dholakia as ‘Lord Poppadom’, to be the more serious of the two breaches, given the racial element to it. The recommended suspension is because of this breach.
“I also consider that behaviour training would be beneficial for Baroness Meyer, to address the specific behaviour in this case. I therefore recommend that Baroness Meyer undertake bespoke behaviour training provided by an approved external provider.”
Two separate incidents gave rise to the case during a visit of the JCHR to Rwanda in February 2024. The first incident occurred when during the tour Meyer mistakenly addressed Lord Dholakia as “Lord Popat”, another British Indian member of the House of Lords. She is said to have immediately apologised and the matter seemed to be closed, but it was later reported to Lord Dholakia by others on the tour that she had subsequently twice referred to him as “Lord Poppadom” during a taxi journey. Although he did not hear these remarks at the time, he heard the response of others who were in the taxi.
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Since the Conduct Committee’s decision last week, several peers have been expressing their views over the matter, with some describing the suspension as “unfair”. The conduct report records that Baroness Meyer had demonstrated remorse for her actions and a willingness to apologise.
*Info: House of Lords Report