The House of Lords has been accused of treating peers like recalcitrant schoolboys after banning two octogenarians from Parliament s bars and restaurants for failing to attend a sexual harassment workshop.
Friends of Lord Kalms, 89, and Lord Willoughby de Broke, 82, branded the punishment ridiculous following the fallout over the mandatory Valuing Everyone classes.
The pair - along with Lord James - were threatened with the exclusion earlier this month and the authorities have now acted.
The Valuing Everyone two-hour session is run by a controversial consultancy firm that uses giant blue puppets in some of its courses.
Challenge Consultancy has pocketed £885,354 for running the course across the Commons and Lords, a Parliament spokesman said.
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