A labor and commercial envoy for Keir Starmer have apologized for breaking the code of conduct of the House of Lords by writing to the treasury to promote a cryptocurrency company that paid him.
Iain Mcnicol, a former secretary -general of the Labor Party, turned out to have violated the rules by offering a paid parliamentary service on behalf of Astra Protocol in June 2023.
His actions were reported to the standards commissioner after the months of research from the Guardian into the House of Lords who investigate the commercial interests of peers.
The report unveiled the Labor Peer wrote to the treasury while he was a paid adviser to Astra protocol and said that the company had collected a “appreciated team of veterans from the industry and controversial political advisers, with extensive experience in crypto”.
In a late entry to a Treasury consultation, Lord McNicol wrote to officials that the Astra Protocol team was unique to offer meaningful insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with regulating Defi [decentralised finance] and other crypto assets. “He warned in the letter against allowing regulation to” suppress innovation “. His e -mail and letter to the treasury were released under the laws of freedom of information.
At the time, McNicol was paid for a monthly holder by Astra Protocol, which had launched a token that then fell in value by more than 99%. He was later on Starmer’s Frontbench, from autumn 2023 to July 2024, and was made by the Prime Minister of the Prime Minister in January of this year a commercial envoy to Jordan, Kuwait and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Lords Commissioner, Margaret Obi, wrote in her findings: “I consider that Lord McNicol by writing a letter to HM Treasury -officials in his own name in his own name, Lord Mcnicol provided a paid parliamentary service to Astra Protocol.
“Although Lord Mcnicol stated that he was not specifically paid for providing this entry to HM Treasury, he received a monthly custodian by Astra Protocol. I therefore believe that this holder can reasonably be understood to cover the different tasks he at that time for the company led.”
This clause states that members “should not try to take advantage of membership of the house by accepting or agreing to accept payment or other incentive or reward in exchange for providing parliamentary advice or services”.
The report said: “Although the letter answered the questions in HM Treasury’s call for evidence, it was also used to promote the work of the Astra protocol. In the letter, Lord Mcnicol refers to the ‘unique offer’ of Astra Protocol.”
The Commissioner said she did not find it as an important infringement, because it was a single letter and did not use special access or contacts that were obtained by being a pear.
But she added: “Nevertheless, this was a clear example of providing a parliamentary service in exchange for payment. It is also not clear why the letter was sent specifically in the name of Lord Mcnicol, rather than in the name of the staff member within the organization, for example the CEO or chairman.
In a letter to Lord Kakkar, the chairman of the Lords inheritance committee, who fully accepted the findings, McNicol said: “I would like to offer my full and non -regulated apology for breaking the code.”
Two other colleagues are being investigated – Lord Evans and Lord Dannatt – after reporting by the Guardian. Both have denied misconduct.
The complaint about McNicol was underestimated to the Commissioner by Tom Brake, the director of the release democracy and a former deputy leader of the Lower House, who raised questions about whether McNicol’s approach to Treasury officials became wrong about the rules of Lords.
Peers may take on paid roles and must mention them in a public register, but unlike members of parliament they do not have to explain how much they earn unless they work for a foreign state.
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