Lib Dem member arrested after sexual assault claim at late-night conference party

The Liberal Democrats said it was 'horrified' and has 'suspended' a person from the party after it was reported that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against him

A man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at the Liberal Democrat conference.

Sussex Police confirmed a 57-year-old man had been arrested in relation to the alleged incident at The Grand Hotel in Brighton. The incident was reported to have happened around midnight on Tuesday night at the party’s Glee Club — the Lib Dem members’ annual singalong on the fringes of the conference.

The Liberal Democrats said a person had been "suspended" from the party as it was reported that an allegation had been made relating to an incident. A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: "We are horrified this has happened, we assisted the police in identifying and arresting the suspect and have suspended him from the party."

Sussex Police said in a statement: "We have arrested a 57-year-old man from Bristol on suspicion of sexual assault by touching in relation to an incident which took place at The Grand Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, at around midnight on Tuesday."

The Lib Dems' Glee Club event sees party members, MPs and staff sing along to satirical songs from a hymn-style booklet. Among the songs is "Lettuce Liz", which is to the tune of The Beatles' Let it Be, and is a reference to an iceberg lettuce outlasting ex-PM Liz Truss's 49-day tenure in No10. Other tunes in the book include "Revoke and Remain", "The New Centrist Anthem" and "Socialiberaldemocraticexpiallydocious". Another infamous song is called "The Land", which is to the tune of Marching Through Georgia.

The party's conference kicked off in Brighton on Saturday and ended with a speech from leader Sir Ed Davey on Tuesday. He used his speech to announce he would campaign for a new Winterproof NHS Taskforce, which would manage a £1.5billion budget to build resilience across hospital wards, accident and emergency departments, ambulance services and patient discharging.

The party leader, on the fourth and final day of the conference, said: "We will urge the Government to act faster and be much bolder, because the challenges we face cannot be solved by burying our heads in the sand and pretending they don't exist - like the Conservatives do. But nor can they be solved with the pessimism and defeatism we're hearing from Labour. They will be solved the way Britain has always done in the past, by rising to our challenges with guts, determination, and hope.