Two senior peers have been suspended by the House of Lords following a ruling that they breached the chamber’s code of conduct by offering parliamentary services in exchange for financial or commercial benefit. The ‎Richard Dannatt case involved him offering over a period of two years to arrange meetings between ministers and commercial clients, including companies in the fertiliser, defence and mining sectors. A formal inquiry found that his conduct included lobbying ministers and officials on behalf of companies in which he had a financial interest. The Standards Commissioner found multiple instances of “improper interactions” with government actors. He received a four-month suspension. In the second case David Evans, a Labour peer, was found to have offered to introduce undercover reporters posing as commercial clients to other parliamentarians at events held by his son’s company—an enterprise in which Evans held a financial stake. He sponsored events in Parliament, failed to ensure they complied with Lords rules, and was judged to have provided parliamentary services for reward. The investigation identified four separate breaches and concluded these actions could undermine public trust in parliamentarians. He was suspended for five months and the Labour whip was removed. Both peers did not appeal the sanctions imposed by the Lords Conduct Committee and are awaiting agreement from the House of Lords for formal implementation. The committee credited expressions of regret in issuing the sanctions but noted the number and seriousness of the breaches. These developments follow a broader investigation into the culture of the House of Lords by the Guardian, which found that large numbers of peers held roles with commercial interests and that the chamber lacked effective mechanisms for oversight. The episodes add pressure for reform of the Lords’ governance of external interests and raise questions about the robustness of existing safeguards. This is the first time such prominent sanctions have been applied in cases involving peers offering access to ministers and other parliamentarians for commercial reward under the current code of conduct. The House of Lords may now face calls to strengthen transparency, monitoring of outside interests and the enforcement powers available to the Conduct Committee....