Dozens defend Tory Peer who called Colleague ‘Lord Poppadom’

Dozens of members of the House of Lords have signed a letter, protesting the treatment of Conservative peer Catherine Meyer, who was suspended for calling an Asian colleague “Lord Poppadom”.

Baroness Meyer also touched a black MP’s braids without permission.

Tory peer Michael Forsyth and cross-bencher Ruth Deech are among 27 members who signed a letter to the Telegraph.

They complained that Baroness Meyer’s punishment did not “adhere to the principles of natural justice”.

A report published by the House of Lords conduct committee found she referred to Liberal Democrat peer Navnit Dholakia as “Lord Poppadom” twice during a visit to Rwanda earlier in 2024 with the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR).

The report also found she touched the braids of Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy without permission.

However, Baroness Meyer’s colleagues said she had been unfairly treated.

According to the Telegraph, they wrote:

“The commissioner decides whether or not to investigate, carries out the investigation and decides, like a judge, what the consequences should be.

“The accused person may be accompanied at the investigation by a legal adviser, but the latter may not speak for them.

“There is no entitlement to cross-examination, even when the facts are disputed and occurred a long time ago.

“The allegation needs to be proved only on a balance of probabilities.

“There is no provision for all documents to be made available to both sides.”

The conduct report upheld the findings of the Lords Commissioner for Standards.

In the report, members found Baroness Meyer mistakenly addressed Lord Dholakia as “Lord Popat”, another British Asian peer.

She quickly apologised but during a taxi trip, she was heard referring to him as “Lord Poppadom”.

Lord Dholakia said he felt “shocked” and “very uncomfortable” and stated in his complaint that he felt he could not continue as a member of the JCHR alongside Meyer.

In her initial response, Baroness Meyer said the complaint was “unfounded” and “baseless”.

After the witness testimony was read out to her, she then said it was possible she may have made the comment but could not remember doing so and that the incident happened after a dinner during which she had drunk “possibly three glasses of wine”.

Baroness Meyer did not deny touching Ms Ribeiro-Addy’s hair but said she had intended it as a friendly gesture.

Afterwards, she said she thought: “Oh, gosh, I did the wrong thing.”

The commissioner upheld both harassment complaints, adding that the racial element of the complaints was a “significant aggravating factor”.

The conduct committee recommended that she be suspended for three weeks and given specialist behaviour training.

In their letter to the Telegraph, Baroness Meyer’s colleagues said such cases would, in the past, “have been disputed in private and amicably”.

They said: “These procedures may have been sufficient years ago when there was less publicity and more robustness of exchange.

“Given the lasting damage to reputation, the publicity inside and outside parliament, and the severity of the sanctions, it is time to bring the procedures into line with natural justice as applicable in other settings.

“One hopes that the review of the code of conduct currently underway will take on that task.”