<
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/10/foreign-states-repressive-regimes-pay-peers-over-3m-two-years>
"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”."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
