Disgraced peer has made no apology and refused to resign his seat
He was suspended from Labour party and will take a 'leave of absence'
Police armed with battering ram and helped by sniffer dog raided his home
Lord Sewel made no apology for his sex and cocaine disgrace today and refused to resign his seat in the upper house.
Breaking cover, the shameless 69-year-old said only that he would take 'leave of absence' from Westminster.
He vowed not to return until at least the end of the year when the standards committee of the Lords has completed an investigation.
Police armed with a battering ram and helped by a sniffer dog swooped on Sewel's rent-protected flat near Parliament today.
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Lord Sewel was secretly filmed snorting a line of cocaine at his Westminster flat with £200-a-night call girls
Police tonight raided the London flat where disgraced peer Lord Sewel snorted cocaine with call girls
Colleagues had demanded he quit completely after being filmed romping with two call girls at the Dolphin Square flat.
The married father-of-four snorted cocaine from the breasts of one of the prostitutes, who were paid £200 each.
'It is regrettable that Lord Sewel has decided not to resign immediately,' said a senior Conservative peer last night.
'The contempt he has clearly shown for the privilege and responsibilities that come with being a member of the House of Lords means that he is no longer fit to hold public office.'
In other developments:
Sewel was suspended from the Labour party;
It emerged he became chairman of the Lords conduct committee despite being a convicted drink driver;
There were fears any inquiry into Sewel's conduct could drag on for months;
His predecessor as committee chairman said it was not clear which rules he had broken;
Fresh calls were made for the House of Lords to be slimmed down.
At least seven officers swooped on Lord Sewel's Pimlico flat and moments later a uniformed dog handler entered the building (pictured)
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One officer was seen arriving (left) at the scene with an evidence bag and another (right) left the central London flat a few hours later with a full bag
John Buttifant Sewel resigned as deputy Lords speaker and chairman of the privileges and conduct committee on Sunday morning after the shaming videos emerged in a national newspaper.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister led calls for him to consider going one step further – and resign completely from the House of Lords.
Speaking on a trade mission to South East Asia, David Cameron said: 'These are very serious allegations.
'It's right he has stood down from his committee posts and I'm sure further questions will be asked about whether it is appropriate to have someone legislating and acting in the House of Lords if they have genuinely behaved in this way.'
Baroness Boothroyd, the former Commons Speaker, said: 'He should take a quiet way out of the back door of the House of Lords quite frankly.
Police left Lord Sewel's London flat tonight carrying large bags of evidence after spending nearly three hours conducting a fingertip search of the premises
'It only needs one bad apple in a barrel, and I'm afraid he's been the bad apple in this barrel. I'm really acutely aware of what members of the public think of those who represent them both in the Commons and the Lords, and we're trying to uphold our standards there.
'I'm very ashamed of what he's done because he's bought the House into some disrepute.'
The Clerk of the Parliaments, David Beamish, received a message last night from Sewel – his first since the scandal broke – saying that he wanted leave of absence, which will start on September 7.
The House of Lords is a 'total mess' and needs to be cut down to size, peers said last night.
Calling for a mandatory retirement age to limit numbers, Baroness Boothroyd said there were not enough seats for all 800 members.
'There comes a time when we have to say the public has had enough of us, individually,' the former Commons speaker told the BBC.
'I'm not in the numbers game – whether it should be 75, 80 or 85; but I do think it's a good thing if we do have a retirement age.'
'There's no place for us all to sit; it's a total mess and it ought to be brought to a halt.' Analysts say the size of the chamber could reach 1,000 by the time of the next election in 2020. Lord Cormack, a Conservative peer, has set up a committee to look at reform.
He said he hoped more peers would take advantage of rules allowing members to voluntarily retire.
But he warned that Mr Cameron's insistence on appointing 50 more members would only make things worse. 'We are growing at too great a rate and I think there is a case for bringing in a retirement scheme that is mandatory,' he said.
He will not be able to attend without giving three months' notice in writing – meaning he will not be able to attend until the end of the year at the earliest. Sewel will not be able to claim his £300 daily attendance allowance. Baroness D'Souza, the Lords Speaker, yesterday referred the peer to the Metropolitan Police.
Officers have launched an investigation into allegations of drug-related offences. A search warrant was granted and no arrests were made.
Baroness D'Souza also wrote to Paul Kernaghan, the independent commissioner for standards in the Lords. The former Hampshire chief constable is expected to decide within 48 hours whether to launch a full investigation.
Sewel's predecessor as chairman of the privileges and conduct committee, Lord Brabazon, warned that any inquiry may be delayed until the police probe has been completed.
He added: 'There is a mechanism [to expel a member], but whether this applies in the case of Lord Sewel, I do not know because what's he's done – ghastly as it is – is not actually an offence against the House of Lords.'
If Mr Kernaghan decides to launch a full probe, it could led to peers voting to expel him under tough new laws that came into force this month.
Previously, the Lords only had limited powers of expulsion – for those sentenced to more than a year in jail.
It was suggested last night that Sewel could be claiming a pension bankrolled by taxpayer-funded employer contributions.
This would relate to his salaried position as the chairman of committees from May 2012.
The Sun's front page today featuring Lord Sewel wearing a ladies bright orange bra and leather jacket
Baron Sewel, who has two children and two more step-children, was made a minister by Mr Blair in 1997
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3176635/Lord-Sewel-refuses-apologise-resign-seat.html#ixzz3h8fgII4s
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