Ex-British Army chief suspended from House of Lords for breaking lobbying guidelines
Two peers have been rapped by the Lords sleaze watchdog after an undercover sting by reporters exposed breaches of Parliament’s lobbying rules
A former head of the British Army has been slapped with a four-month suspension from the House of Lords for breaking lobbying rules.
Lord Dannatt, who served as Chief of the General Staff from 2006 to 2009, was found to have broken rules against providing parliamentary services in return for “payment or reward”. The crossbench peer was filmed telling undercover journalists posing as businessmen that he could secure meetings with ministers for their fictional property development company.
He referred himself to the sleaze watchdog, which unearthed evidence of three more instances of Lord Dannatt contacting ministers or civil servants on behalf of companies he had a financial stake in – UK Nitrogen, Teledyne UK and Blue International Holdings.
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The peer was found to have showed a “clear willingness to undertake activity that would have amounted to paid parliamentary services” – but no money was exchanged. The Lords Conduct Committee upheld the findings and recommendations of the independent Commissioner for Standards, and suspended him from the Lords for four months.
The Conduct Committee said it gave “due weight to Lord Dannatt’s expressions of remorse and recognition of the potential damage such cases cause to the reputation of the House”.
But it added: “The key aggravating factor in the case was the fact that there were four separate findings of breaches of the code. The sheer number of Lord Dannatt’s improper interactions with ministers or officials, and their duration over a period of two years, justify a significant sanction.”
In a statement, Lord Dannatt said: “I deeply regret the Commissioner’s findings regarding my personal honour and I decided that the honourable course of action was not to waste the Conduct Committee’s time by appealing against the findings but to accept the appropriate sanction.
“I accept further that ignorance of all aspects of the Code of Conduct does not constitute a defence and that registration of my interests with the Registrar of Lords’ Interests and my declaration of my relevant interests in correspondence and at meetings, as occurred in all three matters, was insufficient. I also understand that acting in the national interest in good faith, which was my motivation in the three matters, is not an excuse or justification for breaching the Code of Conduct.
“At nearly seventy-five no one is too old to learn lessons and I hope that these activities will be placed in the context of my fifty-six years public service.”
Lord Evans of Watford was also handed a five-month suspension after he was found to have broken lobbying rules by offering access to ministers. It was alleged that the Labour peer offered “cash for access” to undercover journalists posing as potential clients of a company, Affinity, owned by his son.
Lord Evans held one-third of the shares in the company. The Commissioner said Lord Evans failed to act on his personal honour when he told undercover journalists he would be willing to introduce them to MPs, as he had a financial interest as a shareholder in Affinity.
It was also found that Lord Evans sponsored events at the Lords on behalf of the company and approached peers to speak at those events. The Commissioner also concluded that he broke House of Lords events rules as tickets for the events were advertised for sale at above cost price.
The events were used to drum up business for Affinity and Lord Evans, as sponsor of the events, “failed to satisfy himself that the events complied with the House’s rules”, the probe found.
The suspensions need to be approved by the House of Lords to come into effect. Neither peer appealed against the Commissioner’s findings or recommended sanction.
