Tory peer Lord Ranger bullied journalist, watchdog finds

Conservative peer and donor Lord Ranger has been reprimanded by the House of Lords authorities for bullying and harassing a journalist on social media.

The peer got into a war of words with journalist and women's rights campaigner Poonam Joshi after a Diwali event he had organised in the Lords.

Ms Joshi criticised the attendance at the event of a representative of controversial Indian guru Nithyananda.

Lord Ranger has publicly apologised to Ms Joshi for his conduct.

He has also agreed to take part in behaviour change training, as recommended by the Lords Commissioner for Standards, in a report on his conduct.

Ms Joshi, a freelance Indian journalist based in the UK, has issued a written apology to the peer, in which she accepts "a share of the responsibility for the circumstances which have arisen".

The row began in October last year at a party in a House of Lords function room to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

In an article, Ms Joshi criticised the event's organisers the Hindu Forum of Britain, which was co-founded by Lord Ranger, and raised concerns about a full page advert in its brochure promoting self-styled guru Nithyananda. A representative of the guru was also present at the event.

Nithyananda fled India in 2019 while facing multiple criminal charges, including rape and sexual assault.

He has since claimed to have founded a new country, known as the "Republic of Kailaasa", on an island off the coast of Ecuador.

Nithyananda has denied the accusations against him.

In December last year, Lord Ranger, a businessman who has donated tens of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party over the past decade, told The Observer he had no knowledge of Nithyananda or his organisation.

Had he known about the guru, he would not have attended the event, he told the newspaper.

Standards Commissioner Akbar Khan said in his report that Lord Ranger had abused his position as a member of the House of Lords in his social media feud with Ms Joshi.

"He was acutely aware of this imbalance of power and abused it by persistently undermining, humiliating and denigrating Ms Joshi," said Mr Khan.

"Examples of this included his frequent disparaging remarks including 'Who is asking you? Who has given you the authority to insult others who do not appease you? You are showing your poor upbringing by bullying'."

But, the commissioner found, Ms Joshi had "also publicly made potentially damaging allegations about Lord Ranger".

"Both Lord Ranger and Ms Joshi sought to undermine one another by issuing inflammatory tweets and sought to involve their family members in their dispute," the report said.

"Ms Joshi claimed that her social media activity was intended to hold Lord Ranger 'to account' but there were occasions where it appeared that her tweets were intended to insult or ridicule him."

He rejected Ms Joshi's complaint that Lord Ranger had also broken the rules relating to the use of Lords facilities by charging uninvited guests at the Diwali event up to £20 to cover costs.

In conclusion, Mr Khan said there had been "fault on both sides" in this case.

He said Lord Ranger would normally have been facing a short suspension from the Lords over his conduct, but in light of the "significant provocation by Ms Joshi" a public apology and behaviour training "constituted an appropriate outcome".

In a statement, Lord Ranger said: "The commissioner has found my behaviour fell short of the high standards I expect of myself, and which others expect of me as a sitting member of the House of Lords. I have expressed my remorse and I apologise to Ms Joshi.

"The investigation process and reading and reflecting on the report has had a profound and lasting effect on me. I will continue to self-reflect and learn from this experience."

In a statement on Twitter, Ms Joshi said: "I truly hope that he will learn from this and treat everyone with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

"Onwards and upwards from here implementing the lessons I have learnt along the way..."

Lord Ranger launched legal action against Ms Joshi over her social media messages but the pair reached an out-of-court settlement.