The former professional head of the British Army has been handed a four-month suspension from the House of Lords forbreaking lobbying rules.
General Lord Richard Dannatt was found to have broken the rules on providing parliamentary services in return for ‘payment or reward’ after a sting by reporters.
Lord Dannatt, who was Chief of the General Staff between 2006 and 2009, told journalists from the Guardian posing as businessmen he could introduce them to ministers.
The Lords Conduct Committee upheld the findings and recommendations of the independent Commissioner for Standards.
The committee said he had showed a ‘clear willingness to undertake activity that would have amounted to paid parliamentary services’ in his comments to the reporters.
It also emerged during its investigation that there were three other cases where he ‘provided parliamentary services in return for payment’ by writing to and attending meetings with ministers.
A second peer, Lord Evans of Watford, was suspended for five months over a separate incident.
Neither peer appealed against the Commissioner’s findings or recommended sanction.
During the investigation Lord Dannatt acknowledged that he had misunderstood the rules, telling the Standards Commissioner:
‘At 75 this year, no one is too old to learn and I have learnt a painful lesson over the last six months since the Guardian published its first story about me.
‘I regret that my misunderstanding of the Code of Conduct and the publication by the Guardian of highly unwelcome articles has damaged my reputation but more significantly risked that of the House of Lords.’
It was alleged that Lord Evans offered ‘cash for access’ during meetings with undercover journalists posing as potential clients of a company, Affinity, owned by the peer’s son.
Lord Evans held one-third of the shares in the company.
The Commissioner found that Lord Evans failed to act on his personal honour when he told undercover journalists he would be willing to introduce them to MPs, given his financial interest as a shareholder in Affinity.
It was also found that Lord Evans had sponsored events at the House of Lords on behalf of the company and approached members of the House of Lords to speak at those events, thereby providing parliamentary services to the company in which he had a financial incentive.
The Commissioner also found that Lord Evans broke House of Lords events rules as tickets for the events were advertised for sale at above cost price.
The events were used to promote and 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’.
