One of Sir Keir Starmer’s new peers has been suspended by Labour after it emerged that he resigned from a college group after conducting sexual liaisons during working hours.

Joe Docherty became Lord Docherty of Milngavie last month after being nominated by the prime minister. He was stripped of the party whip on Saturday, pending an investigation.

Another of Starmer’s nominees, Baroness Limb, an education expert, has said she will not take her seat in the House of Lords after The Sunday Times revealed that she lied about having a PhD.

The Sunday Times and FE Week discovered that Docherty, 57, resigned as chief executive of NCG, formerly Newcastle College Group, days after being confronted with allegations of inappropriate conduct in October 2018. At the time NCG was the country’s largest sixth form and further education group.

Docherty had exchanged more than 50 sexual messages on the same day as an Ofsted inspection and met partners at hotels paid for by NCG during working hours. On one occasion he had a sexual liaison when he was scheduled to be attending a meeting.

The investigation found one message in which Docherty told a partner: “My work scheduled a conference call for 10.30am tomorrow but I’ve given my apologies so we can meet.”

The alleged wrongdoing concerned Docherty’s conduct at a time when Ofsted had issued “requires improvement” ratings after finding serious issues with the management and leadership of NCG. The group, which has sixth forms and further education colleges in London, Carlisle and Kidderminster as well as Newcastle, was also facing serious financial difficulties. 

Docherty quit two weeks after an internal inquiry recommended formal disciplinary proceedings. He did not dispute the underlying evidence but took issue with the way it had been interpreted. He denied his actions had the potential to bring NCG into disrepute and also claimed they were “being brought into question because of his sexuality”. He said he “offered to apologise to anyone who may have been offended”.

The circumstances of his departure were withheld from public view and he continued as chairman of the governing body of Durham University for more than half a decade.

It appears that Docherty did not mention the controversy during the vetting process before joining the House of Lords.

Another of Starmer’s appointments, his former spokesman Lord Doyle, was stripped of the party whip after The Sunday Times revealed his support for a paedophile. Limb, an education expert, not only lied about her PhD but also oversaw the sale of an historic charity’s assets to a foreign buyer in a controversial transaction which led to seven-figure bonuses for two executives.

The Labour Party said on Saturday: “[We expect] the highest standards from our members. All complaints are thoroughly assessed in line with our rules and procedures.”

Docherty said: “I fully accept that whether as a member of the House of Lords or as a senior executive, accountability is paramount and I welcome legitimate scrutiny. However, I am also entitled to a private life. The apparent leaking of a version of a confidential internal HR report and The Sunday Times’s reliance upon such a document is disgraceful.

“The claims being made were robustly disputed at the time and would have been vigorously challenged had the matter proceeded to a disciplinary hearing, which it did not.”

He accused the investigator of bias, which he said his lawyer had raised directly with her. He added: “It is grossly unjust that the paper should rely upon such an inadequate and disputed piece of work.”

Docherty was investigated by NCG after he gave his work phone to the IT department for repairs. According to the investigation, a colleague was concerned by the “very explicit nature and content of the photos and messages” it contained, and the fact that “some of the messages referred to the CEO cancelling work meetings”. They raised the matter with management. 

NCG asked an external human resources consultant to investigate three matters: “alleged use of [a] mobile phone in a manner” that breached company policy, “potential abuse of time” in which “NCG business could and should have been taking place”, and concerns that Docherty’s conduct “exposed NCG to risk of damage to institutional reputation”.

The consultant identified four incidents when Docherty’s “accommodation had been booked and paid for by NCG”, with evidence indicating “sexual liaisons that took place … whilst [he] was working away from home over an extended period between October 2017 and August 2018”. 

The events took place “broadly between the hours of 8am and 4pm on weekdays”. The hotels included the Megaro and the Pullman in the capital, and the Townhouse in Manchester.

On May 21, 2018, Docherty exchanged dozens of lurid messages. His diary for the day confirmed he had several work meetings and that NCG was being inspected by Ofsted. On another date, Docherty had “cancelled and given apologies” for a work meeting so he could go on a date, the investigation found.

Docherty was interviewed as part of the investigation. It found that he “did not deny that the messages consisted of correspondence he had engaged in during visits to London and Manchester”. Nor did he “deny that the meetings these threads referenced had taken place or that he had authored the content [of the explicit texts”.

The investigation found he “reluctantly accepts that his conduct appears to be in contravention of [IT] policy [but] positions this as an ‘honest mistake’”. He also claimed “his CEO role [was] one that could not be defined by working hours”. He said he “did not regard his actions” as ones that “had the potential to bring the organisation into disrepute”, claiming they were brought into question “because of his sexuality” and as such “the act of querying his conduct is discriminatory”. He offered to “apologise to anyone who may have been offended”.

The external consultant dismissed Docherty’s arguments, saying on September 27, 2018, that evidence indicated he had committed all three breaches and should face formal disciplinary proceedings. Docherty resigned with immediate effect two weeks later on October 10. The former banker left with a settlement of £57,000, described in accounts as “payment in lieu of notice”, with a further £1,800 paid towards legal fees. He had been on a total annual package of £278,000.

Sir Peter Lauener, then the NCG chairman, did not make any public statement and those involved were made to sign non-disclosure agreements. Lauener is due to leave his current role as chairman of the Student Loans Company next month.

It is unclear if any of the organisations with which Docherty was affiliated — including Durham University — were notified. At the time, Docherty was already chairman of Durham’s governing council and continued in the role for six years. 

Docherty makes no reference to his time at NCG in the “experience” section of his page on the House of Lords website.

Peers are required to comply with the Nolan principles of public life, including honesty, openness and integrity.

Docherty, who was raised in Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, became a member of the Labour Party in 1994 and was seconded to work for Tony Blair’s government on regional development three years later. 

He was ceremonially introduced to the upper chamber by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, a Blair-era minister, and Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay, the former Sunderland Central MP.

Liz Bromley, NCG’s current chief executive, said the matters at hand predated her appointment in 2019, meaning she was unable to comment on specifics. “Since my appointment, NCG has regained Ofsted good [ratings] across all aspects of the curriculum, we are financially strong, and we have a very positive culture across all our seven colleges, based on strong, shared values,” she said.