A peer and ex-managing director of Marks and Spencer has been suspended by Labour for sexual harassment, including telling a young woman sending him a document on upskirting legislation he hoped it would “contain photos”.
The Lords independent commissioner for standards upheld four complaints against Lord Stone of Blackheath, who was accused of sexism, transphobia and unwanted touching.
In his response to one of the complaints, the peer repeatedly used the racist n-word while attempting to mount a defence.
During the case, the first to be completed under the new parliamentary complaints system, one complainant told the commissioner that Lord Stone acted like he was “untouchable” because he was a peer.
In one incident, the peer repeatedly told a woman she was looking beautiful to boost her “low-self esteem”, the report said.
When he saw her reaction, he grabbed her arm and insisted that although his comments may be seen as sexist, “she really did look beautiful”, before letting go when someone else arrived at the scene.
“(Lord Stone) “acted as if his position as a peer made him untouchable””
Another woman said Lord Stone repeatedly stroked her arm and signed off a professional email exchange with a kiss.
The peer was also alleged to have “joked” to a young woman that he hoped a document relating to the upskirting bill “would contain photos”.
Lord Stone responded by saying he made the “joke” to many people and claimed it would have been “sexist” if he had refrained from making the same comment to the person he was addressing because she was a young woman.
Two other complaints came after Lord Stone approached a stall asking peers and staff to sign a “no bystanders” pledge on homophobia, biphobia and transphobia with a guest, saying loudly that he “wants the operation”.
He added: “Is this where he signs up for the trans operation, he wants to be trans.”
When one of the staff members on the stall complained he patted her arm and told her he was only joking. Another staff member later said Lord Stone “acted as if his position as a peer made him untouchable”.
The peer replied to the complaint by saying the staff at the stall were presenting their case “rather incompetently” and claimed those offended were “not as enlightened” as he was about equality and that “they perhaps have some problem themselves”.
He then went on to volunteer an example of his sense of equality: “I wouldn’t call somebody a ‘n****r’ in, like, in an aggressive way, but let us say I was at some meeting, which I often am, particularly in Israel with black people or whatever, I would say, ‘We are all n****rs, I am’— what do you call it—‘an honorary n****r’, yes, and they would say, ‘Yes, Andrew is just as n****r as we are’ … but people feel that if you are not trans or if you are not gay, or if you are not lesbian, then you are not part of that group and therefore you can’t speak in an open way.”
The commissioner ruled in each case that Lord Stone should undertake “bespoke training and behaviour change coaching provided by an external supplier”, which both he and the complainants agreed to.
A Labour Lords spokesperson said: “The chief whip has informed Lord (Andrew) Stone that he is suspended from the Labour peers group until further notice.
“Further discussions will be had with Andrew once he has completed the training and coaching recommended by the commissioner.”
Lord Stone was joint managing director of Marks and Spencer between 1974 and 1999, according to parliament’s website.
He stepped down as president of the Oxford-based health charity Dipex following the commissioner’s report.