‘Alexander put pressure on Rennard over scandal’

Danny Alexander was sent to tell the Liberal Democrat official at the centre of a sexual harassment scandal that he “had to go”, it was claimed last night.

Alison Smith, one of 10 women making claims against Lord Rennard, says the Inverness MP was ordered by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to “deliver the bad news” in 2008.

Mr Alexander’s office denied that he told the peer to quit, saying he stood by his weekend statement that “indirect and anonymous concerns” were brought to Mr Clegg’s attention, and that he put the concerns to the peer “in strong terms and warned him any such behaviour was wholly unacceptable”.

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