James Forsyth James Forsyth

Danny Alexander on why he couldn’t do more about Lord Rennard allegations

Danny Alexander has now issued a statement of his own on the Lord Rennard and the allegations against him. This follows Nick Clegg revealing that it was Alexander, then his chief of staff, who was responsible for dealing with general concerns about Lord Rennard in 2008.

Alexander says that there was a limit to how far he could take these concerns following Rennard’s denial, a denial that Rennard stands behind, given that the ‘concerns were received indirectly and anonymously’. There is though, an issue, of how proactive Alexander was in attempting to find out what was really going on.

Alexander’s statement also doesn’t address the question of the setting in which he raised these concerns with Rennard. Was it as part of a formal meeting or any informal chat after other business between the leader’s chief of staff and the chief executive had been concluded?

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