Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords after being filmed allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes.
Footage
obtained by The Sun on Sunday appeared to show the peer - who had been
deputy speaker of the Lords - snorting powder from a woman's breasts.
In a letter to the Clerk of the Parliaments, he wrote: "I want to apologise for the pain and embarrassment I have caused."
He said he hoped his decision would "limit and help repair" the damage.
Police have also launched a criminal investigation and searched a property in central London.
The
Metropolitan Police said it was looking into "allegations of
drug-related offences involving a member of the House of Lords".
'Public confidence'
On Monday, the peer requested a leave of absence from the Lords, but sources had suggested he did not plan to quit.
But
in letter published on Tuesday, he wrote: "The question of whether my
behaviour breached the Code of Conduct is important, but essentially
technical.
"The bigger questions are whether my behaviour is
compatible with membership of the House of Lords and whether my
continued membership would damage and undermine public confidence in the
House of Lords.
"I believe the answer to both these questions means that I can best serve the House by leaving it."
On Monday, Lord Sewel was also pictured wearing an orange bra and leather jacket as he reclined, smoking a cigarette.
Footage showed him making disparaging remarks about a number of senior politicians, including the prime minister.
Biography
Name: John Buttifant Sewel
Age: 69
Title: Lord Sewel, of Gilcomstoun in Aberdeen
Educated at Durham and Aberdeen universities
Worked as a lecturer at Aberdeen University
Joined the House of Lords in 1996
Lords career: Parliamentary under
Secretary of State, Scottish Office, 1997-1999, opposition Scotland
spokesman 2010, elected chairman of committees in 2012
UK representative to Nato Parliamentary Assembly, 1999-2002
Although
Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords he keeps the peerage he
was given by the then Labour leader Tony Blair in 1996.
As a
junior Scottish Office minister in the government of Tony Blair, he
helped steer legislation through the House of Lords which paved the way
for a Scottish Parliament.
As a result, his name was given to the
so-called Sewel convention, which allows the UK Parliament to pass
legislation on a devolved issue extending to Scotland, over which the
Scottish Parliament has legislative authority.
He stood for the
Scottish Parliament in its inaugural election in 1999 but was not
successful. He is also a member of the Nato parliamentary assembly,
attended by politicians from the defence alliance's 28 members.
He
quit his £84,500 a year role as deputy speaker of the Lords and
chairman of the Lords privileges and conduct committee in the wake of
the revelations on Sunday.
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