Tory peers compare case of Baroness Meyer ‘Lord Poppadom’ slur to playground argument

Two Conservative peers have compared the case of Baroness Meyer, who twice called a British-Asian peer “Lord Poppadom”, to a playground argument.

Debating a motion to remove the entitlement of members of either House to bring a complaint of harassment against a peer, former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Lilley said on Wednesday (5 March): “Surely the presumption is that we are old enough and sensible enough to deal with offensive remarks made by other colleagues without running off to teacher and saying ‘please miss, please miss, Ginny insulted me on the playground’.”

Fellow Tory peer Lord Balfe said: “I was appalled by the report on Baroness Meyer, where really it seemed that a playground scrap had been elevated into a great controversy.”