NICK Clegg and the Liberal Democrat leadership should "get a grip" and sort out the crisis engulfing the party, former leader Lord Steel of Aikwood has urged.
His comments came as the prospect of an all-out court battle moved closer, a development internal sources said would lead to a "bloodbath the like of which the party has not seen before".
The former Holyrood Presiding Officer, warned that the LibDems, already wallowing in the polls were getting themselves in "the most awful mess" and members across Britain would be very angry this had not been grappled with from the start.
"The first rule in politics is: if you're in a hole, stop digging," he declared. "The fact is they have been digging on both sides for the past two days and it's disastrous."
The 75-year-old Scottish peer suggested the party drop its suspension of Lord Rennard and he withdraw his threat of legal action. Asked what Mr Clegg should do, Lord Steel replied: "It's a bit hard to say: it should be the party leader. But, collectively, the party leadership should get a grip on this and say it's got to be reversed. There should not be a threat of expulsion. Chris Rennard should withdraw his threat of legal action and we should get this sorted out once and for all."
But he was swiftly rebuffed by a senior LibDem source, who said "obviously we disagree" and that reinstating Lord Rennard was "not going to sort it out".
The former election strategist who helped treble the number of LibDem MPs has instructed a QC to see whether or not the decision to instigate a disciplinary inquiry against him is lawful.
The 53-year-old peer was suspended from the party and faces a disciplinary hearing for not apologising following an internal inquiry into the claims of sexual harassment.
He has refused to do so because he denies the claims.
While the inquiry found there was no proof beyond a reasonable doubt to the allegations, it said the claims were "broadly credible" and that the peer should apologise for any distress caused.
Yesterday evening at Westminster, Mr Clegg addressed LibDem MPs and peers at their weekly parliamentary meeting and emerged half an hour later stony-faced.
His spokesman said the party leader had thanked his colleagues for their calm co-operation and resilience during a difficult period.
He explained that when all the rhetoric was stripped away, Mr Clegg continued to stand by his decision to abide by the inquiry's recommendation that Lord Rennard apologise.
The spokesman insisted the party had followed due process throughout but said he would not comment on whether or not the leadership was confident it could win any court battle against Lord Rennard, who, if the disciplinary process continues, could ultimately face expulsion from the LibDems. Asked why Mr Clegg could not seek a one-to-one meeting with his colleague, the spokesman replied that in the early days - they have not spoken for almost a year - such offers were rejected.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article