Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army from 2006 to 2009, who lives at Keswick, has been recommended for the suspension after a lengthy probe by the independent commissioner for standards.

The investigation was triggered when Lord Dannatt, who is married to Norfolk's lord-lieutenant the Lady Dannatt, referred himself to the watchdog after he was secretly filmed by undercover reporters posing as property developers.

Lady Dannatt (Image: Archant 2021)

The reporters, from the Guardian newspaper, asked him about securing meetings with ministers for a potential commercial client who wanted to lobby the government.

The crossbench peer, the former chairman of the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance, was recorded telling them he could make introductions within the government and would "make a point of getting to know" the best-placed minister.

The investigation found Lord Dannatt showed a “clear willingness to undertake activity that would have amounted to paid parliamentary services” during his conversations, but no money was exchanged.

It found he had not breached the Code of Conduct's prohibition on paid parliamentary services on that occasion, but that he had breached the Code of Conduct's requirement for members to always act on their personal honour.

But evidence later emerged of three separate cases in which the standards commissioner concluded he had provided parliamentary services in return for payment.

These involved corresponding with ministers and officials on behalf of companies in which he had a financial interest and, in two cases, attending a meeting with a minister or senior official.

The investigation found Lord Dannatt had corresponded with ministers and civil servants........

© Eastern Daily Press