Tory peer faces second investigation over lobbying allegations
A Conservative hereditary peer is under investigation for a second time by the House of Lords standards watchdog over allegations that he misused his parliamentary position to lobby for a firm that was paying him.
The Earl of Shrewsbury claimed in correspondence that he was meeting a series of politicians and officials to promote a healthcare firm that employed him as a consultant.
The leaked documents show that the peer boasted “very considerable” potential to open doors for the firm, SpectrumX, through what he called “my extremely high-level contacts”. He described one of his contacts as being “at the very top of the feed chain”.
The Guardian can reveal that the earl also tabled nine questions in parliament that elicited information from the government about issues that appear to be connected to SpectrumX, which marketed products to combat coronavirus. After he had received answers from a minister, the peer forwarded them on to SpectrumX.
Peers are not allowed to exploit the House of Lords or their political contacts to lobby specifically for commercial firms and organisations that pay them.
The peer – whose full name is Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot – was largely exonerated in May by an investigation into his involvement in SpectrumX by the House of Lords commissioners for standards.
However, the Lords commissioners, after receiving new evidence, have now launched a second investigation into Shrewsbury and his work for SpectrumX.
A Cheshire-based firm, SpectrumX marketed products including a hand sanitiser and a tunnel, or pod, in which people would walk through a mist of disinfectant that it said was capable of neutralising Covid-19 and other viruses.
The firm paid the peer £3,000 a month
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