Chris Rennard has been a member of the Liberal Democrat party for more than 40 years and was awarded a peerage in 1999. Chris Rennard has written his account of becoming involved with the Liberal Democrats with his book, “Winning Here”.
Statement by Lord Rennard to Times Radio
Friday 6th February 2026
All allegations made against me were investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service in 2013 in what was acknowledged by one of the complainants to be a “thorough and professional investigation”. After interviewing all concerned and considering any evidence they decided not to send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service and took no further action.
A thorough investigation of all allegations was then undertaken by an independent lawyer Alistair Webster KC following very extensive appeals for any complaints concerning me and any evidence. His report submitted to the party in December 2013 concluded that there was insufficient evidence to hold a disciplinary hearing. The report he submitted did not include the word “credible”. His report was accepted by the relevant party body in January 2014.
A further investigation was conducted by another independent lawyer as to whether there were any grounds at all for any form of disciplinary action against me and it concluded that there were not. This conclusion was accepted by the party in August 2014 when all disciplinary action against me ended.
There was then an independent review of all these process by the businesswoman Helena Morrissey MBE who is now a Conservative Peer. She concluded in December 2014 that, “At this point, December 2014, every investigation has concluded with no further action to be taken against Lord Rennard. The process over the past nearly two years – conducted according to the prevailing rules – has run its course and although the outcome is a source of great frustration to some, I believe that the Party can only move on if that outcome is accepted. At this stage, given that the Party applied its own processes, there is no justification for it remaining ambivalent towards Lord Rennard – he should be just as welcome a participant or guest at Party events as any other”.
Lord Rennard in Parliament
Tobacco and Vapes Bill Report
Legislation Tobacco and Vapes Bill: (day 1) part one
My Amendments 129 and 133 would place a duty on the Government to consult on whether health warnings should appear not just on cigarette packets or the inserts within them but on every single cigarette, by printing the warnings on the paper enclosing the dangerous tobacco. In Grand Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, whose great work on this Bill is much to be admired, said that this was something the Government could look at in future but not something they were looking at now, and that secondary legislation could provide for this in future. I ask: why not consider it now, and why not meet my request for a consultation to begin?
Watch this report in full here.
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This idea is not new or untested. It was first endorsed by the All-Party Group on Smoking and Health in 2021, and then in the Khan review commissioned by the previous Government in 2022. Canada has already implemented this approach on cigarette papers, with demonstrable impact. Australia followed suit last April, albeit with warnings only on the filters. The evidence gathered for Health Canada examined how smokers and non-smokers responded to cigarettes carrying health warnings directly on them. The findings were striking: cigarettes displaying warnings were consistently regarded as less attractive, while those without warnings were more likely to be seen as less dangerous. In other words, the absence of a warning sends its own message—and it is the wrong one.
Watch this report in full here
After two weeks abroad with the Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva (400 parliamentarians from 120 countries setting the world to rights), and then with a group of European parliamentarians in Taiwan discussing issues such as security co-operation, it has been back to the House of Lords this week.
On Monday, I was working on the Tobacco and Vaping Bill aimed at preventing new generations taking up smoking.
The Government has accepted something I was pressing for in the 2022 Health Bill. Cigarette packets will in future include inserts providing advice and links to smoking cessation services.
I am continuing to press for health warnings to be printed on individual cigarettes. Too many young people take up smoking when offered a cigarette out of somebody else’s packet. Canada has found that warnings on individual cigarette papers are an effective deterrent to taking up smoking and help people to quit. I want us to follow their example and I found strong support including possibly from the Minister.
I also argued for all filters (not just plastic ones) to be removed from cigarettes. The tobacco industry set out to deceive their customers (half of whom will have their life shortened by the habit) that cigarettes with filters are somehow safer. They are not and the filters cause litter in many places that need cleaning up.
