Two peers suspended from House of Lords for breaking lobbying rules
Lord Evans of Watford and Lord Dannatt were filmed breaking rules, in undercover footage recorded by Guardian
Two long-serving peers are to be suspended from the House of Lords after a parliamentary watchdog ruled that they had broken lobbying rules.
Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army, and David Evans, Lord Evans of Watford, were filmed breaking the rules in undercover footage recorded by the Guardian.
In June 2022, Dannatt lobbied ministers and officials to provide millions of pounds in financial support for a venture looking to purchase a fertiliser factory. Three days after the meeting with a minister, he was paid 2,000, followed by another three payments of 2,000 months later.
In January 2023 and September 2024, at the instigation of executives at Teledyne, a US defence company that paid him, Dannatt wrote to Home Office ministers to lobby them for assurances" the government was taking action against Palestine Action. The letters followed an attack by the group on the company's factory.
In January 2024, Dannatt wrote to the UK's top diplomat in Ghana to organise a meeting with her that he attended with the director of a British goldmine company. They used that meeting to lobby her to get support from the Ghanaian government for the company, in which Dannatt had shares.
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