81 year-old Lord Steel has resigned from the Liberal Democrat party and will resign as a member of the House of Lords “as soon as possible” after admitting he was aware Cyril Smith was a child abuser. Good.

Giving evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) Lord Steel admitted under oath that Cyril Smith confessed to him in 1979 that the child abuse allegations against him were true. Steel admitted he still did nothing about it, and made no effort to investigate whether Smith posed any continuing risk to children. Despicable.

A year ago David Steel was evasive and lied to Evan Davies on Newsnight:

This was the point in his testimony that did for him:

UPDATE:  As Esther Webber notes, he will only be able to retire from the Lords under rules set up by his own 2012 private member’s bill.