A Tory peer has been rapped for lobbying ministers on behalf of a healthcare firm he hadn't declared he represented.
The Earl of Shrewsbury - whose full name is Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot - contacted two ministers while being paid a reported £3,000 a month by Cheshire-based firm SpectrumX.
The 69-year-old Earl is a director of Talbot Consulting Limited - which was representing SpectrumX - along with his wife the Countess of Shrewsbury.
Leaked emails earlier this year showed he bragged he could secure access to ministers, having been approached by the firm to "help open doors... at government level".
At the time SpectrumX was developing a walk-in pod that would spray users with a sanitising mist - claimed to provide protection against Covid.
Following a probe by the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL), the watchdog said it will impose a "civil penalty" - which could see the Earl fined up to £7,500.
The ORCL said he failed to register his interest in the consultancy firm when he contacted junior ministers Baroness Diana Barran and Alex Burghart about SpectrumX, which supplies sanitiser to the NHS.
He is still being investigated by the House of Lords commissioners for standards over an allegation that he misused his position.
In its ruling, the ORCL said the peer had written to Baroness Barran, an Under Secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, requesting a meeting to discuss SpectrumX's products further. it it thought the letter was sent in February last year.
In October he wrote to Mr Burghart, inviting him to the formal opening of SpectrumX's new manufacturing facilty.
In an email leaked to the Sunday Times in June, Lord Shrewsbury wrote: "Alex is at the very top of the feed chain, and is with (then-Health Secretary) Matt Hancock."
The ORCL ruling stated: " Talbot Consulting Limited, through The Earl of Shrewsbury, undertook consultant lobbying activities for SpectrumX.
"Talbot Consulting Limited does not appear on the Register of Consultant Lobbyists but conducted two communications that are registerable under the Act "
The Tory peer is the 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury - a title bestowed on ancestor John Talbot way back in 1442.
The Mirror has contacted the Earl of Shrewsbury and SpectrumX for comment.
