The Liberal Democrats have suspended a party member accused of rape at the annual conference in Brighton last year.
The party said that the unnamed man had been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation by the police.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said that the Lib Dems had been “accused of hushing up a rape allegation after taking six months to suspend a party member alleged to have attacked a teenager at last year’s party conference”.
Four women are alleged to have been harassed or assaulted by the same man.
The Independent news website said yesterday: “An activist has claimed that the allegation was badly dealt with and only referred to police once the issue became public.”
It said that there were “claims that the alleged offence was known about for some time by party officials and hushed up”.
The party said: “If an allegation is made against a party member, the disciplinary procedure is triggered immediately with an investigator talking to witnesses.
“If someone has an allegation of a criminal nature against a member of the party, we would urge them to go to the police.
“If they were unable to do so, we would refer it to the police on their behalf.
“Our party has a clear and robust complaints procedure set out on our website.
“We take any such complaints extremely seriously.
“If anyone has any complaints, we would urge them to come forward, as set out on our website, and our pastoral care officer will make prompt contact.”
