LONDON: A House of Lords committee on Monday recommended suspending for three years a parliamentarian who allegedly tried to force a woman to sleep with him in exchange for a promotion.

The entire upper house will vote on the conduct committee’s ruling on Thursday in what would be the longest ban for a British lawmaker since at least World War II.

The decision against Anthony Lester — an 82-year-old human rights lawyer and member of the centrist Liberal Democrats party — comes with sexual harassment allegations swirling over both houses of parliament.

An October report into the House of Commons found that a culture of bullying and inappropriate sexual behaviour “thrives” among members of the lower chamber.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018