Deputy Speaker of the UK Parliament Resigns Amidst the Release of Hidden Camera Footage

Lord Sewel the former Commander of the Order of the British Empire and former chairman of the Committees of the House of Lords recently became the focus of a criminal investigation by the London Metropolitan Police into his alleged dealings with prostitutes and illicit drugs. The revelations came to light after Lord Sewel was surreptitiously videotaped in his UK flat with his guests making statements of former president George W. Bush and Prime Minister David Cameron, among other things. Sewel described the Prime Minister as, “the most facile, superficial prime minister there’s ever been.”

Shortly after the story went public, Sewel decided to step away from his post. In his resignation Lord Sewel stated, “I have today written to the Clerk of the Parliaments terminating my membership of the House of Lords,” Sewel said in a statement published in the New York Times. “The question of whether my behavior breached the code of conduct is important, but essentially technical. “The bigger questions are whether my behavior is compatible with membership of the House of Lords and whether my continued membership would damage and undermine public confidence in the House of Lords,” he added. “I believe the answer to both these questions means that I can best serve the House by leaving it.”

Add Lord Sewel’s name to very long list of politicians who have been caught on tape behaving badly. It will be interesting to see the not only the findings of the investigations, but where his career goes from here.