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Published : 24 Nov 2025, 11:58 PM
The House of Lords has suspended two long-serving peers after a parliamentary watchdog ruled that both of them repeatedly violated lobbying rules.
The Guardian reported that Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, and David Evans, Lord Evans of Watford, were filmed breaching the rules in undercover footage.
Lord Dannatt is to be suspended for four months after being found to have offered to secure meetings with ministers for a potential commercial client seeking to lobby the government.
The British daily added that he was secretly filmed saying he could make introductions to ministers and that he would “make a point of getting to know” the best-placed politician.
Following The Guardian’s reporting, three further cases were uncovered in which Dannatt had provided parliamentary services in return for payment.
The findings detailed several incidents:
– In June 2022, Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers and officials seeking millions in financial support for a venture interested in purchasing a fertiliser factory. He received £2,000 three days after meeting a minister, followed by three additional payments of the same amount.
– In January 2023 and September 2024, acting at the request of executives at Teledyne, a US defence firm that paid him, he wrote to Home Office ministers seeking “assurances” on government action against Palestine Action following an attack on the company’s factory.
– In January 2024, he wrote to the UK’s top diplomat in Ghana to arrange a meeting he attended with a British goldmine company director. The British daily said the pair used the meeting to lobby for support from the Ghanaian government for the company in which Dannatt held shares.
Lord Dannatt initially claimed he had not broken the rules, telling the watchdog he believed he acted in the national interest.
As per the Guardian, he later issued a statement saying he “deeply regretted” the findings and chose not to appeal.
He added that acting in good faith was not an excuse and that “at nearly 75 no one is too old to learn lessons”.
The Guardian noted that Lord Evans, a Labour peer since 1998, will be suspended for five months after findings of four breaches that the watchdog said “could erode public trust in parliamentarians”. Evans has had the Labour whip removed.
The London-based newspaper said he was recorded offering to introduce undercover reporters -- posing as property developers -- to fellow parliamentarians.
He also used his position to arrange for peers to speak at commercial events organised in parliament by his son Richard Evans, in whose company he held shares and to which he had loaned more than £50,000, it added.
The Guardian said Evans boasted to undercover reporters that it was “great being a Labour peer at the moment because we’ve got our mates who now have senior jobs”.
It reported that the Lords authorities had already warned Richard Evans last year for charging attendees more than permitted and promoting events without approval. Despite the warning, the events continued, and both father and son were later recorded breaching the rules.
The inquiries into both peers were conducted by the Lords commissioners for standards, following investigations by the Guardian as part of the Lords debate project.
The newspaper noted that these suspensions follow previous sanctions against other peers after official inquiries prompted by the newspaper’s reporting.
