Lord Rennard claims he tried to say sorry to women but was 'rebuffed' An investigation commissioned by the Lib Dems and led by a barrister found "credible" evidence that the peer had "violated" the personal space of a number of women. However, it concluded that the evidence could not prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that Lord Rennard had "intended to act in an indecent or sexually inappropriate way." Mr Clegg has called for Lord Rennard to be banned from resuming his place in the party in the Lords until he apologises. However in a message on a social media website this weekend, the peer said he had already offered to apologise. "I tried to make/consider any apology years ago, but was totally rebuffed by the complainants," Lord Rennard said. One accepted then reneged! An appeal and further legal action are threatened, so I could not apologise in any event even if justified (which it is not). It would damage the women and the party much more if I said any more. A source close to Lord Rennard said he had offered a "general" apology several years ago to women who were apparently upset but he did not know at the time any details of the allegations against him. Now Lord Rennard knows that the women are accusing him of sexual harassment, which he denies, he is refusing to apologise, the source said. Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, is now considering with senior colleagues whether to launch a new disciplinary inquiry into the peer's behaviour on the charge that his refusal to apologise is itself "bringing the party into disrepute." The case has opened a bitter dispute inside the Liberal Democrats over the fate of the peer, who is popular among members and widely credited with transforming the party into an electoral force over the past 20 years. Some of the party's most senior figures are expected to side with Lord Rennard against Mr Clegg and thwart the leadership's attempts to block his return to the Lords next week. Lord Rennard's brother, the Rev Edward Rennard, said Mr Clegg should "simply drop it." Mr Rennard, a Church of England rector in Halesworth, Suffolk, said: "This was always a witch hunt. Now they can't get him by legitimate means, they're trying illiberal tactics that would be worthy of the Ku Klux Klan. Speaking later to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Rennard said his comparison with the KKK, the violent, right-wing extremist organisation in America, referred to the tactics that Mr Clegg was using in an attempt to force his brother to apologise. "There was a police inquiry, there was an internal inquiry which found no conclusive proof of any wrongdoing and yet the leader of the Liberal Democrat party continued to persecute my brother," he said. Mr Rennard said his brother had been treated "extremely badly" by the party he had served loyally for decades. The senior leadership of the Liberal Democrat party have behaved badly. I haven't seen the natural justice I would expect to see. One of Lord Rennard's allies said that the peer had been assured by party whips that he would be allowed to return to the Lib Dem benches in the Lords on Monday. However, Susan Gaszczak, one of Lord Rennard's alleged victims, said: "It is horrifying to know that someone can walk straight back into the Lords. I can't believe that they are just going to let him walk back in.