Lord Carlile: Lord Rennard is not going to apologise

Lord Rennard says he is looking forward to resuming his roles within the Liberal Democrats after an inquiry found that harassment charges against him could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

But the senior lawyer who looked at the claims did say that an apology from Lord Rennard "would be appropriate, as would a commitment to change his behaviour in future".

One of the women who accused Lord Rennard of inappropriately touching her, Alison Smith, described the outcome of the inquiry as "a bit of a fudge that doesn't seem to please anybody and raises more questions than it answers."

She added that Lord Rennard has not apologised to her, and said "it would be a very good start" if he did.

Lord Rennard's legal adviser, Lord Carlile, said his he was "not going to apologise" and added: "There's no reason why he should."

First broadcast on the Today programme on Thursday 16 January.