Baroness Meyer faces suspension over offensive racial remark

The committee upheld a complaint that Lady Meyer twice used the derogatory term to refer to Lord Dholakia during a taxi ride during a visit to Rwanda with parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights in February.

The comments came after Lady Meyer had earlier mistaken him for Lord Popat, another peer of southeast Asian heritage, the report heard.

Lord Dholakia was not present, but others on the committee confronted her over the remarks including Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the report heard.

Lady Meyer initially denied using the term, but faced with evidence from two witnesses she admitted she may have said it – blaming a long day and a dinner where she drank “possibly three glasses of wine”.

The investigation found Lady Meyer had breached harassment rules with behaviour towards Lord Dholakia that had a “racial element”.

She then asked Ribeiro-Addy if she could touch her braids, and did so before receiving a reply.

Ribeiro-Addy said she laughed off the incident but said it made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”.

Lady Meyer said she saw Ribeiro-Addy’s reaction and instantly regretted her actions.

The report noted that she had apologised for her actions in both cases.

Alongside the three-week suspension, the committee recommended Lady Meyer be made to take bespoke behaviour training.

The 71-year-old co-founded International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and is the widow of the former UK ambassador to the US Sir Christopher Meyer.

She was appointed to the house of Lords by Boris Johnson in 2018.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Baroness Meyer has apologised for the distress caused to the complainants.

“The committee has recommended what they consider to be the appropriate sanction.”

Conservative peer Lord Greenhalgh said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Lady Meyer’s comments.

“The use of that sort of language is not what I would have expected from my conservative colleague,” he told the BBC.