Labour peer Lord Mendelsohn has been effectively sacked from the party’s front bench after attending the controversial Presidents Club dinner.
The party’s spokesman on business and international trade in the House of Lords was probed by officials after it emerged that he had been on the guest list.
A Labour Lords spokesperson said: “Jeremy Corbyn has this evening asked Lord Mendelsohn to step back from the frontbench as he attended the Presidents Club dinner, and he has agreed to do so.
“Lord Mendelsohn has previously made clear he attended part of the dinner as President of a charity that received support from the event and he had no knowledge of an after-party, did not witness any of the appalling incidents described and has unreservedly condemned such behaviour.”
A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “It’s right that Lord Mendelsohn has stepped down.
“The reports about this appalling event were deeply shocking and there can be no excuse for anyone’s attendance.”
The move will put pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to sack Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was also at the event.
David Meller, one of the organisers of the event, quit his job on the the Department for Education board.
During the event hostesses were made to parade in front of men and were groped and subjected to lewd comments.
Zahawi has claimed he left early and has said he will never attend a men-only event ever again.
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, today defended his Tory colleague on Twitter.
Theresa May has said women should not be treated as “objects” in the wake of sexual harassment allegations at the men-only dinner.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday morning, the prime minister said she was “appalled” at the report published in the Financial Times.
However asked if she wanted to change any rules to tackle the problem, May said it was about changing “attitudes”.