Members of the House of Lords have been paid more than £3m in the last two years by foreign governments including repressive Middle Eastern regimes.
Many of the states paying peers have human rights records that have been widely criticised, such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
In total, 27 peers have been paid by foreign states for services including consultancy and legal advice. They include Philip Hammond, the former chancellor and foreign secretary, who has declared payments totalling £816,000 during the last two years from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The findings have drawn criticism from campaigners who say peers should not be working for any state whose “priorities or values on issues such as human rights are at odds with the UK’s”.
There are no restrictions under the House of Lords rules on members taking up such consultancies, provided they declare who they are working for and how much they are being paid.
In general, peers are not required to register the fees they receive for their consultancies and directorships. But in 2021 the Lords tweaked the rules and since then peers have had to declare how much they are paid if they are receiving money from foreign governments or institutions that are, or even appear to be, controlled by foreign states.
This tightening of the rules followed worries that overseas governments, particularly Russia, were meddling in British democratic processes.
The Lords authorities warn peers to be “especially cautious when coming into contact with representatives of corrupt or repressive regimes”.
Tom Brake, the director of the reform group Unlock Democracy, said: “There should never be any doubt that a UK legislator’s top priority is to defend UK interests. But UK politicians, paid by foreign states, will crash into unavoidable conflicts of interest, where their loyalties will be tested.
“To avoid any such risk, they could do worse than follow a self-denying ordinance and avoid working for any foreign state, particularly those whose priorities or values on issues such as human rights are at odds with the UK’s.”
The analysis is part of the Lords debate, a Guardian investigation into members of the Lords, at a time when the Labour government has made moves to raise standards and reduce the size of the upper chamber.
Paid by Middle Eastern regimes
Lord Hammond, the peer who has received the most money from overseas governments, said: “I have a diverse portfolio of outside interests, none of which is related to my membership of the House of Lords.”
He emphasised there were “rigorous” rules that he closely followed and added: “All my roles are fully compliant with both the letter and the spirit of the Lords’ rules and guidance, and I have engaged extensively with the Lords’ authorities over the years to ensure that each new role is fully compliant.”
Fourteen peers have received payments from five authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes, including five peers who were paid nearly £700,000 by Bahrain.
Gerry Grimstone, who was the minister of state for investment in Boris Johnson’s government, was paid £150,000 to advise the Bahraini regime on its “modernisation and reform efforts”. He works through a consultancy, Equilibrium Global.
Before his two-year stint in the government, he had been a banker for many years, with jobs in the Middle East. When he took on the Bahrain post last year, Lord Grimstone said he saw the role as “restarting my private sector career after a period of unpaid public service, and returning to a part of the world which I know well and where I believe I have been highly respected for many years”.
Qatar, another Middle Eastern state with a poor human rights record, paid at least £100,000 over the last two years to Alex Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. The peer has a consultancy with John Scarlett, the former head of Britain’s spying agency MI6, providing advice on UK foreign and public policy. Lord Carlile told the Lords that he “takes no part in any parliamentary proceedings relating to any client”.
The rest of the world
Peers who were paid by states in other parts of the world included Archie Hamilton, a former defence minister. He receives £60,000 a year as a director of FM Capital Partners, a UK investment company controlled by the Libyan government. It manages frozen assets that are under British sanctions and therefore needs to apply for official licences to operate in some cases. Hamilton is paid an extra £1,000 for every board meeting he attends.
Mark Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary and national security adviser, has been paid at least £100,000 a year for advising Temasek, an investment fund owned by the Singapore government.
Five peers who work as barristers have received payments from foreign regimes.
David Pannick, a well-known barrister, has given legal advice to the Bahamas, and in the past has advised the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.
Asked whether he thought this was appropriate, Lord Pannick said: “It depends on what the peer is paid for. In my opinion, there can be no objection to a member of the House of Lords who is a lawyer advising and representing clients, including foreign governments, on legal issues provided that – as the code of conduct now requires – that interest is declared in the register.”
Peter Goldsmith, who was attorney general under Tony Blair, was paid just over £95,000 in the last two years for legal work for the governments of Azerbaijan, Israel and South Korea.
Grimstone, Carlile, Hamilton and Goldsmith declined to comment.
