One in three peers has seat in boardroom

One in three peers is a company director and 80 carry out consultancy work for leading firms, a new report reveals.

Analysis of the first compulsory register of interests of members of the House of Lords, published earlier this year, shows that 217 peers, of a total of 666, register 618 directorships between them.

Labour Research, an independent body not connected to the Labour Party, found that nearly half of all Tory lords registered directorships, and 30 hold consultancies.

Nearly 40 per cent of Labour peers are directors of companies; another 13 hold consultancies. But the real figures could be much higher. Some peers choose not to include all their known business interests on the register.

The busiest Tories are Lord Parkinson and Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who each hold 11 boardroom seats.

Lord Parkinson's list of interests includes directorships at the construction group Jarvis, insurance firm Manson, and Resolution Security. Lord Fraser is a director at a number of energy firms as well as Carnoustie Golf Course Hotel and Resort, and the London Metal Exchange.

Conrad Black, owner of The Daily Telegraph, comes next with 10 directorships, most based in his native Canada. Viscount Astor, Lord Lang of Monkton – the former Cabinet minister – and Lord Wade of Chorlton each hold nine.

Among Labour's lords, Viscount Chandos tops the list with 17 boardroom seats at companies ranging from the cinema chain Cine-UK to energy distribution company Middlesex Holdings.

Lord Renwick and the architect Lord Rogers of Riverside hold nine directorships each. Lord Renwick is vice-chairman of the US bank JP Morgan and a part-time director of British Airways and the Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton.

Some 20 per cent of Liberal Democrat peers are company directors. Lord Razzall, best man at the wedding of his leader Charles Kennedy, boasts 21 directorships, the greatest number in the Lords. And almost one in four of the non-affiliated crossbenchers and members of minority parties has a directorship.

Twenty-eight of the FTSE 100 companies – some of the most valuable in the UK – have a peer on their board. British Airways, the food and drink firm Diageo, and the HSBC bank have three each.

Labour Research also found that the known interests of some peers were not registered. The Tory peer Lord Harris of Peckham was one of 62 peers of all political allegiances apparently to declare "no relevant interests". He said an administrative oversight had led to the failure to include his links to the carpet retailer Carpetright, even though he is chief executive and chairman and receives a salary of £379,000 a year.

Labour Research says some other peers with paid directorships failed even to return their forms. The former Conservative Cabinet minister Lord Moore of Lower Marsh was one of 29 peers who, at the time of publication, had no entry at all in the register. Yet he is a non-executive director of Rolls-Royce and receives an annual salary of £45,000.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville, a government minister drafted in by Tony Blair, declared a number of interests but did not include the 17 per cent share stake in supermarket group J Sainsbury, which was put in a blind trust on his becoming a minister.

A Labour MP said of the report last night: "These figures are disgraceful. The House of Lords claims a constitutional legitimacy in terms of the laws of the land. But how can they be concentrating on the job they do in the Lords if they are spending time carrying out influential boardroom or consultancy jobs?"