No Lib Dem ‘fall guy’ after Lord Rennard allegations?

Nick Clegg could not have been clearer on Wednesday, writes Cathy Newman. When the businesswoman Helena Morrissey published her report – ordered in the wake of the Rennard scandal – into how the Liberal Democrats dealt with sexual harassment complaints, the party leader had this to say: “It makes sobering reading. It shows that stretching over a 20-year period a series of mistakes were made which left a number of women feeling seriously let down, and for that there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever.”

And he went further, saying that as leader of the Liberal Democrats he took responsibility for those mistakes.

Strong stuff indeed. But what does it actually mean?

One of the women who made the original sexual harassment allegations against Lord Rennard on Channel 4 News – allegations which he strenuously denies – told me that she wanted to know who would resign over the failings identified.

The report found that party figures from the leader down had plenty of opportunities to order a full and formal investigation into complaints of sexual impropriety – and yet they omitted to do so. This wasn’t, as Mr Clegg tried to claim, because there weren’t the right processes in place. In fact, Ms Morrissey made plain that “formal processes existed but were not followed”.

The Lib Dems appear to have decided that the best approach here is to apologise grovellingly, promise to do better in the future, and hope that nobody has to be the fall guy or girl.

And here’s the roll call of all the senior people who failed to follow those processes:

Mr Clegg knew of the concerns five years ago; and at various points in the last few years, the then chief whip, party president and the woman who is now equalities minister – Jo Swinson – had all been told of allegations about Lord Rennard.

Paul Burstow, who was chief whip at the time two women raised concerns with him, apologised in Ms Morrissey’s report for a “lapse of judgement” in failing to urge them to make a formal complaint. An odd apology that, since the women we spoke to insisted they believed their complaints were formal.

But apart from that, and the deputy prime minister’s show of contrition, no-one has taken ultimate responsibility for letting the women down. No one, in short, has lost their job over these failings spanning two decades.

I put that to Tim Farron, the current party president, on Channel 4 News on Wednesday night. We’d asked for an interview with Mr Clegg himself. In fact we’ve been asking since we broke the Rennard story in February. But the party decided to allow the deputy prime minister to do a single “pooled” interview for all the broadcasters, fielding Mr Farron on our programme instead.

This was of limited use to people like me who still want answers, but it was undoubtedly extremely useful to the party itself, as Mr Farron is charming, genial, apologetic, and most important of all, wasn’t in the know at the time the allegations are made, so is absolutely unable to take any personal responsibility himself.

So when I asked him if anyone should quit, he said no, before adding: “My job is not to defend what we’ve done in the past…What we want as a party is to be able to go forward from this.”

Indeed. The Liberal Democrats appear to have decided that the best approach here is to apologise grovellingly, promise to do better in the future, and hope that nobody has to be the fall guy or girl.

Which is fine as far as it goes, and certainly the women behind the original allegations told me they were pleased the party appeared to be getting its house in order at last. But if these mistakes are as serious as Mr Clegg implied, isn’t it rather surprising that no one has been shown the door?

I’ll carry on asking the questions, but I’m not confident of getting any firm answers any time soon.