Peer questions 'leniency' of Saatchi caution for Nigella incident

Lord Avebury questioned whether the caution had "set the wrong tone"

A Lib Dem peer has attacked the "leniency" shown to Charles Saatchi, who accepted a caution after photos were printed showing him grasping his wife Nigella Lawson by the neck.

Lord Avebury raised the matter in the Lords as the government answered questions on domestic violence.

Ms Lawson's father, Tory Lord Lawson of Blaby, was present in the chamber, and could be seen shaking his head.

Minister Baroness Northover said she could not comment on a particular case.

'Media reaction'

Mr Saatchi was cautioned for assault after the pictures of him and his celebrity chef wife at Scott's restaurant in London appeared in the Sunday People.

The arts collector had initially dismissed it as a "playful tiff" but then voluntarily went to a police station to accept the caution, saying "it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months".

Lord Avebury asked the minister: "Do you think that the leniency shown to Mr Saatchi when he half-strangled his wife set the wrong tone?"

Lady Northover replied: "I can't comment on a particular case and I think that what I'm struck by also is the media reaction, which is really very interesting, the support and the sympathy for people who may find themselves in such situations and also that these problems go through every level of society."

Mr Saatchi's brother, Maurice, a Conservative peer, was not present in the chamber during question time.

Mr Saatchi, a former advertising executive, and Ms Lawson have been married since 2003.

Ms Lawson, whose cookery books and TV shows have made her a household name, has not commented on the incident.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was forced to defend his comments on the incident after being asked on his weekly radio show whether he would have intervened had he been at the restaurant.

Mr Clegg said he could not say as he did not know the full facts: "I just don't know. There was this one photograph. I don't know whether that was just a fleeting thing."

'Don't call Clegg'

He went on to say that in general, if there was a couple who start to have a physical dispute, he would hope that everyone would intervene "to try and protect the weaker person, to try and protect the person who otherwise would be hurt".

Mr Clegg's suggestion that the incident might have been a "fleeting thing" attracted criticism from shadow home office minister Diana Johnson, who called his comments "disgraceful".

On Twitter, Tory MP Sarah Wollaston wrote: "So just don't 'call Clegg' if your partner likes to grab you by the throat to emphasise a point."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Clegg shows how little he understands violence against women - too often dismissed as fleeting or unimportant when it is a hidden crime."

After the criticism of his comments, Mr Clegg issued a fresh statement, saying: "I completely condemn all forms of domestic violence.

"But I was asked a very specific question about how I would have reacted to a specific incident which I did not see.

"I said I did not know how I would have reacted to that specific incident because I do not know what happened.

"The point I was making is that I don't know what other people in the restaurant saw and I don't want to make a judgement on their reaction."