Labour peer Lord Mendelsohn sacked over Dorchester groping dinner

UK peer Lord Mendelsohn sacked from Labour’s front bench after attending the infamous Presidents Club groping dinner.

Lord Mendelsohn and his wife Nicola. Picture: Twitter.

The Labour peer Lord Mendelsohn has become the first political casualty of the controversial Presidents Club dinner after he was effectively sacked from the party’s front bench for attending the gala event.

The 51-year-old peer, Labour’s spokesman on business and international trade in the House of Lords, was asked to step down by Jeremy Corbyn after it emerged that he had been a guest at the fundraiser, at the Dorchester hotel in London, where hostesses were allegedly groped.

Lord Mendelsohn’s wife, Nicola, is Facebook’s vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has previously spoken out about women’s rights in the workplace.

His resignation puts pressure on Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative minister for children and families, who also attended the charity event. Mr Zahawi has apologised and said he left early but Maria Miller, chairwoman of the equalities committee, said his decision to go at all was “unacceptable”.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said there could be no excuse for anyone’s attendance at the “appalling event”. A Labour Lords spokesman added: “Jeremy Corbyn has asked Lord Mendelsohn to step back from the front bench ... and he has agreed to do so.

“Lord Mendelsohn has previously made clear that he attended part of the dinner as president of a charity that received support from the event and he had no knowledge of an after-party. Lord Mendelsohn did not witness any of the appalling incidents described in reports and has unreservedly condemned such behaviour.”

The Times