I want to keep you informed on where we stand in the various processes that have started following the allegations against Lord Rennard.

There are now three processes in place:

• Inquiries by the Metropolitan Police to ascertain whether criminal activity might have taken place. This is still at an early stage and there is no set time limit on when they must decide whether or not a criminal investigation should take place.
• An internal investigation by the Party, headed by Alistair Webster QC, to establish whether disciplinary action under the Party’s rules is due. This whole process must take no longer than 14 weeks, but could be put on temporary hold should there be any risk of overlap with police enquiries.
• An independent investigation to review our procedures and to thoroughly examine how allegations made in the past have been handled. We are working to finalise the appointment of the independent Chair and I will update you when there is an announcement.

In order to assist those with information, the Party has asked Public Concern at Work, a leading whistle-blowing authority to provide witnesses with independent and confidential advice and to help advise where they should go to in the context of the reviews and investigations. I would strongly encourage those with information to come forward under this arrangement. You can do so by calling: 0207 404 6609 or by sending an email to [email protected].

If you have information that may help the police with their inquiries as to whether criminal activity has taken place I would also strongly encourage you to contact them. You can do so by calling: 0208 721 4601. The initial call will be taken by clerical staff, and will then be followed up by specially trained officers.

While the police establish whether criminal activity has taken place we will continue with the two inquiries set up by the party.

Finally, we are looking into how to best provide support to those affected and I will update on this next week.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted me on [email protected] with both information and advice.

* Tim Gordon is Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats.