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.
Senior peer Lord Sewel has been
urged to resign from the House of Lords after he was filmed allegedly
taking drugs with prostitutes.
Lord Sewel, who is yet to comment
on the claims, has already quit as Lords deputy speaker and chairman of
the Lords privileges and conduct committee.
He could also face a police inquiry over the Sun on Sunday's footage.
Labour MP John Mann said the 69-year-old should resign from the Lords voluntarily before he was expelled.
It comes as the Sun published further photographs
of the peer in Monday's newspaper, along with details of new footage in
which he is said to make disparaging remarks about a number of other
politicians.
'Lifetime ban'
The original footage released appeared to show Lord Sewel snorting powder from a woman's breasts with a £5 note.
Lords
Speaker Baroness D'Souza condemned his behaviour, saying it was
"shocking and unacceptable" and the allegations would be referred to the
House of Lords commissioner for standards and the Metropolitan Police.
Standards
Commissioner Paul Kernaghan will gather evidence and the cross-party
privileges and conduct committee will then decide on a punishment.
John Mann branded Lord Sewel a "disgrace"
Mr Mann said: "He cannot possibly go in front of his own committee and expect a serious hearing.
"He is a disgrace. He should retire and resign immediately.
"A lifetime ban would be the committee's only option. He needs to save them and himself further embarrassment and go now."
The House of Lords (Suspension and Expulsion) Act 2015
- which received Royal Assent only in March and which Lord Sewel
himself helped to introduce - allows peers to be barred from Parliament
if they breach the code of conduct. The code maintains that members must "always act on their personal honour".
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
On
Monday, the Sun published a picture of Lord Sewel wearing an orange bra
and leather jacket while smoking a cigarette, on its front page.
David
Cameron, Boris Johnson and the four Labour party leadership contenders
were among those criticised by the peer, the Sun reports.
Lord
Sewel is said to have described Mr Cameron as "the most facile,
superficial prime minister there's ever been", and Mr Johnson as "a
joke".
He is also said to have called Scottish MP Alex Salmond
"pompous", and claimed the reason former Labour Prime Minister Tony
Blair took the decision to go to war in Iraq was "because he fell in
love with George Bush".
'Good headlines'
Lord
Sewel, a former Labour minister who is now not affiliated to any
political party, served in the Scotland Office under Mr Blair's
government.
The Sewel convention, which applies to the relationship between Westminster and the Scottish government, is named after him.
The former senior vice-principal of the University of Aberdeen has been a member of the Lords since 1996.
Lord
Sewel's privileges and conduct committee role came with an £84,500
salary and meant he was in charge of proceedings when the Lords
considered a bill at committee stage, and was automatically made a
deputy speaker.
In a recent blog for
the Huffington Post, he said the Lords had taken "major steps" to
"protect its reputation and punish misconduct by its members".
"Scandals
make good headlines... The requirement that members must always act on
their personal honour has been reinforced," he wrote.
