Calls to strip Lord Ahmed of title after child sex abuse convictions
Tory MP Alexander Stafford says child abusers should automatically lose peerages.
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A Conservative MP has called for Lord Ahmed to be stripped of his title after he was convicted of sexually abusing two children in the 1970s, saying it should be automatic in the case of child abusers.
Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford started a petition in the wake of Wednesday’s guilty verdicts at Sheffield Crown Court, saying Ahmed was a “vile monster” who is “guilty of heinous crimes against children”.
He said: “This vile monster should not hold such an illustrious title and, therefore, I am writing to the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab calling for the removal of his title.”
Mr Stafford told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Anyone, frankly, who commits any abuse of children should automatically lose their title.
“There should be a mechanism in place to do that.
“I think there should be an independent commission looking at how peers and other honours are appointed, and how that comes forward. And have a consensual agreement to get to the best place.”
Ahmed, 64, was found guilty of two counts of attempted rape and another of buggery relating to incidents involving a boy and girl in the early 1970s.
He will be sentenced on February 4.
Ahmed resigned from the House of Lords in November 2020 after reading the contents of a conduct committee report which found he sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman who sought his help.
The report made him the first peer to be recommended for expulsion but he resigned before this could be implemented.
But many were surprised to discover that Lord Ahmed’s title is separate from his membership of the house.
The House of Lords confirmed that, as the title is created by letters patent from the Queen, it has no power to remove it. Legislation would be needed to strip Ahmed of his title.
The Labour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion told the BBC it “made a mockery of the peerage system” if Ahmed was allowed to keep his title.
Ms Champion said: “It’s going to take a lot to make it happen and that’s a fault with our system.”