Lord Rennard Sex Claims: Police To Investigate

How The Rennard Story Developed

Updated: 7:17pm UK, Monday 25 February 2013

Here is how the claims about Lord Rennard grew into a full-blown crisis for Nick Clegg amid questions about exactly what the party leader knew and when.

2008: Nick Clegg says this was when he became aware of "indirect and non-specific concerns" about Lord Rennard's behaviour.

The leader says his then chief-of-staff Danny Alexander confronted the peer and told him "any such behaviour was wholly unacceptable".

Lord Rennard "categorically denied" the claims.

2009: Lord Rennard resigns as party president due to ill health.

February 19, 2013: Channel 4 tells the Lib Dems about the allegations ahead of its programme.

February 21, 2013: Channel 4 broadcasts claims by two women alleging Lord Rennard touched them inappropriately.

Alison Smith, a Lib Dem activist who is now an Oxford University lecturer, said she spoke to chief whip Paul Burstow and Jo Swinson, party spokesman for women and equality, but that no action was taken.

Lord Rennard, who resigned as party president in 2009 due to ill health, says he is "deeply shocked" by the allegations which he "strongly disputes".

The party insists Nick Clegg first knew of the allegations when it was approached by Channel 4 about the planned broadcast.

February 22, 2013: A new report on Channel 4 News says more women have come forward with similar stories about the peer.

February 23, 2013: Lib Dem president Tim Farron says he is "sure" Mr Clegg did not know about the claims.

February 24, 2013: Pressure grows on Mr Clegg after the Mail on Sunday reports a Facebook exchange from January 2009 in which one party worker wrote: "I just don't know how Nick can know and not do anything."

A Lib Dem spokesman repeats: "Nick Clegg only knew of these allegations when we were contacted by Channel 4 News."

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show in the morning, Business Secretary Vince Cable also denies that he or Mr Clegg knew about the allegations before the Channel 4 report.

In the evening, Mr Clegg - back from a family holiday in Spain - issues a dramatic clarification, admitting he had known about the rumours for five years.

But he says: "I would like to make one thing crystal clear. I did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast."

February 25, 2013: Mr Clegg insists he has "nothing to hide" about how the case was handled. "Until last week, no very specific allegations were put to me," he says.

Lib Dem President Tim Farron admits the party has "screwed this up". "There are individuals out there who we had a duty of care towards and we did not fulfil that duty of care," he says.

Scotland Yard announces it is investigating "whether or not criminal activity has taken place" following the allegations against Lord Rennard.

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Brits Among 19 Dead In Hot Air Balloon Crash

A hot air balloon has crashed near the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor, killing 19 foreign tourists.

The balloon was carrying 21 people at the time and was flying at a height of 1000 feet over Qurna, in Luxor's West Bank.

An Egyptian security official says there was a fire and an explosion on-board the balloon, which fell to the ground and crashed into sugar cane fields.

The casualties include British, French, Japanese and other foreign nationals.

The crash occurred in Luxor, Egypt

Two survivors from the crash, including the balloon's pilot, have been taken to hospital.

Hot air ballooning is popular with tourists who go to Luxor to visit its ancient temples and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.

Egypt's tourism industry has suffered a sharp downturn in visitor numbers since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, with two years of political instability scaring off foreign tourists.

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Oscars: Historic Win For Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis has made Oscar history after becoming the first man to win the best actor trophy three times.

The British-born actor was honoured for his portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's historical drama.

He spent a year preparing for the role and, in his customary method, remained in character during the production.

Accepting his Oscar from Meryl Streep, Day-Lewis said: "I really don't know how any of this happened, I do know I've received more than my fair share of good fortune in my life."

Christoph Waltz won the first award of the night

He joked Streep had been the first choice to play Lincoln and he had been committed to play Margaret Thatcher - the role that won Streep an Oscar last year - before tearfully thanking his mother.

He previously won in 1989 for My Left Foot and in 2007 for There Will Be Blood.

It was a good night for British talent with Adele winning the Oscar for best original song for her Bond theme Skyfall.

The tearful singer thanked her songwriting partner Paul Epworth for "believing in me all the time, and my man, I love you baby".

She wowed the audience of A-listers in the Dolby Theatre with her first ever live performance of the 23rd Bond film's title track.

Dame Shirley Bassey wowed the audience in the theatre

Ben Affleck's Iran hostage thriller, Argo, won the Oscar for best picture, despite the star being snubbed in the best director category.

The nominees for best film were introduced by First Lady Michelle Obama from the White House, before she named Argo as the winner.

Affleck, who also starred in the film, paid tribute to the "genius" Spielberg whose film, Lincoln, lost out in the category.

Referring to his success with 1997's Good Will Hunting, he said: "I never thought I would be back here and I am because of so many of you who are here tonight."

He added: "It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life, all that matters is that you get up."

The cast of Les Mis took to the stage

It was the first time since Driving Miss Daisy in 1990 that a film won the top prize at the Oscars without its director also being nominated.

The show's host Seth MacFarlane, the man behind hit cartoon Family Guy, started proceedings by poking fun at the Academy for not nominating Affleck, saying the plan was "so top secret the film's director is unknown to the Academy".

Taiwanese director Ang Lee picked up the statuette for best director for Life of Pi, beating Spielberg who many expected would collect the award for Lincoln. Lee collected the same award for Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

In a night that was otherwise short on shocks Jennifer Lawrence claimed the best actress gong for Silver Linings Playbook.

The 22-year-old fell as she climbed the steps to the stage to claim her prize.

Some had predicted the award would go to French actress Emmanuelle Riva who starred in Amour and at 86 was the oldest woman ever to be nominated. She won a Bafta award earlier this month for the role.

Jennifer Lawrence fell on the stairs to the stage

Anne Hathaway picked up the best supporting actress statue for her role in the musical Les Miserables.

The star, who only featured as Fantine in the film for around 15 minutes, fought back tears as she said "it came true" and thanked her husband and everyone who worked on the film.

She had been widely predicted to win the award in a tough category where Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Amy Adams and Jacki Weaver were also nominated.

Christoph Waltz won the first award of the night, best supporting actor, for his role in Django Unchained.

Waltz offered thanks to his character and "to his creator and the creator of his awe-inspiring world, Quentin Tarantino".

It was the second time in three years he has won the category - his first Oscar was for his role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.

Waltz beat off stiff competition from Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tommy Lee Jones.

Some of host Seth MacFarlane's jokes were a bit close to the bone

Tarantino went on to collect the prize for best original screenplay.

Brave, the Scottish story of a rebellious, red-headed princess, won the Oscar for best animated feature.

Amour, a French-language film about an elderly couple won best foreign language film which was accepted by its Austrian director Michael Haneke.

Skyfall also won the trophy for best sound editing, which was tied with Zero Dark Thirty. It is only the third time in Oscar history that winners have been tied.

The night of British success started with Jacqueline Durran winning for her costume design on Anna Karenina and the make-up and hairstyling award went to Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell for Les Miserables.

The presentation of awards was broken up by a series of musical performances including Catherine Zeta-Jones singing All That Jazz from Chicago and Jennifer Hudson performing I'm Telling You from Dreamgirls.

A tribute to the Bond films and music made up of classic clips of 007's adventures was introduced by one-time Bond girl Halle Berry.

And 76-year-old Dame Shirley Bassey took to the stage in a gold dress to sing Goldfinger which received a standing ovation.

But it was a medley of Les Miserables songs sung by the cast that left the audience with goosebumps.

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Two Police Officers Injured In Hit And Run

Two people have been held on suspicion of attempted murder after police officers were injured in a hit and run in Manchester.

The officers tried to stop the vehicle at about 10.50pm on Sunday on Rochdale Road in Harpurhey, when it hit them and drove off.

Their injuries are not life threatening - one officer suffered a head injury while the other had a broken wrist.

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Oscar Pistorius Tweet Thanking Fans Is Fake

A tweet claiming to be from Oscar Pistorius thanking his fans for praying for him was a fake, the Paralympian's family has said.

The message, thanking "every person that has prayed for both families" and signed by "Osca" was posted using his older brother's handle, @carlpistorius.

It was initially believed to have been the double-amputee's first direct comment since he was freed on bail over the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day.

But his family said the Twitter account had been hacked, prompting the accounts of his siblings to be taken down.

Pistorius family spokeswoman Janine Hills said: "It is most unfortunate that during this sensitive time someone would choose to hack into Oscar Pistorius' older brother Carl Pistorius' Twitter handle.

"Carl did not tweet this afternoon, out of respect to Oscar and Reeva. We are busy cancelling all the social media sites for both Oscar's brother and his sister."

It came as Ms Hills told Sky News the athlete "wants this time to be alone" and was "feeling a lot of remorse" over the death of the law graduate.

Pistorius is accused of premeditated murder. He denies murder.

The athlete arrived at his uncle's house on Friday after paying 10% of his one million rand (£73,000) bail at Pretoria's Brooklyn police station, where he had been held for a week.

His uncle, Arnold, has reportedly told eNews Channel Africa (eNCA) that his nephew wants to contact the parents of Ms Steenkamp and said he would "never be the same" again.

Earlier, Ms Steenkamp's father said Pistorius would "suffer" if it turned out he was lying about how she died.

South Africa's Beeld newspaper quoted Barry Steenkamp as saying Pistorius would have to "live with his conscience" if his assertion that he accidentally shot the 29-year-old is false.

He said: "There are only two people who really know what happened and it's Oscar Pistorius and the Lord.

"It does not matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he must live with his conscience if he let his lawyers tell lies on his behalf.

"He will have to live with his conscience. But if he speaks the truth, I can perhaps someday forgive him."

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Pistorius Brother To Stand Trial Over Death

The brother of Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius is facing charges over the death of a woman in a car crash in 2010, Sky News has learned.

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail

Carl Pistorius, who was present in court over the past week to support Oscar, is charged with culpable homicide over the alleged accidental death of a female motorcyclist.

His lawyer, who also represents Oscar Pistorius, confirmed the charges to Sky's Alex Crawford.

Carl Pistorius appeared in court just two days before his brother's bail hearing last week.

Crawford said in Britain the equivalent charge to culpable homicide is manslaughter.

Carl Pistorius' trial is set to begin at the end of March.

Oscar Pistorius, meanwhile, spent Saturday at his uncle's home in an affluent suburb of Pretoria, the South African capital, after a judge released him on bail on Friday.

He has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day.

But the athlete denies murder, saying he killed the 29-year-old model accidentally. He says he opened fire after mistaking Miss Steenkamp for an intruder in his home.

Carl Pistorius, with his sister, was in court this week to support Oscar

The Oscar Pistorius case took a dramatic turn last week when it was revealed the lead investigator, Hilton Botha, was facing charges of attempted murder himself.

Botha, who denies the charges, was questioned at the 26-year-old athlete's bail hearing, where he gave an often confused testimony.

But the day after he was questioned in court, a judge dropped him from the case because of the charges.

Prosecutors admitted that the timing of the attempted murder charges had been "totally weird".

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Britain's Premium Credit Rating Downgraded

Rating agency Moody's has stripped Britain of its top-grade AAA credit rating, citing slow growth and a rising debt burden.

After the international agency announced the one notch drop to AA1, Chancellor George Osborne said it was a "stark reminder" of the country's debt problems, but said the coalition was determined to stick by its plan for economic recovery.

The downgrade is a major blow for Mr Osborne, who has been coming under increasing pressure to take action to stimulate the economy.

Moody's said Britain's recovery was proving to be significantly slower than previous rebounds from recession and it did not expect the situation to change.

"[There's] increasing clarity that, despite considerable structural economic strengths, the UK's economic growth will remain sluggish over the next few years," it said.

Moody's is the first of the major credit rating agencies to knock the UK off of its top rating.

Moody's said it did not expect Britain's slow recovery to change

The ratings agency also cut the Bank of England's AAA rating by one notch, also to AA1.

Sky Economics Editor Ed Conway said: "The fact that Britain has lost its AAA crown for the first time since credit ratings were given to the UK back in the 1970s, it's a really big blow to Britain's reputation.

"It's something of an economic blow, but in a way it's more of a political problem for George Osborne. He made a key part of the Conservative election pledge to safeguard Britain's credit rating."

On Friday evening, the Chancellor said: "We have a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country - and the clearest possible warning to anyone who thinks we can run away from dealing with those problems.

"We are not going to run away from our problems, we are going to overcome them."

Moody's said that the British economy is constrained both by the troubled global economy and the drag from businesses and the Government slashing its debt burdens.

"Moreover, while the Government's recent Funding for Lending Scheme has the potential to support a surge in growth, Moody's believes the risks to the growth outlook remain skewed to the downside," it said.

Mr Osborne has used maintaining the top credit rating for government bonds as one of the key arguments for the Government's austerity programme.

However, Labour has insisted that withdrawing demand from the economy has put it more at risk by stunting growth.

Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "This credit rating downgrade is a humiliating blow to a Prime Minister and Chancellor who said keeping our AAA rating was the test of their economic and political credibility.

"In the Budget the government must urgently take action to kick-start our flatlining economy and realise that we need growth to get the deficit down. If David Cameron and George Osborne fail to do so and put political pride above the national economic interest we face more long-term damage and pain for businesses and families."

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