Keir Starmer's Labour peers and trade envoy apologized for violating the House of Lords Code of Conduct and wrote to the Treasury to facilitate a cryptocurrency company that is paying him.

Former Labor Secretary-General Iain McNicol was found to have provided paid parliamentary services on behalf of the ASTRA agreement in order to violate the rules.

After the Guardian conducted a months-long investigation into the House of Lords, his conduct was reported to the Standard Commissioner to study the business interests of his peers.

Reports show that workers are traveling together When he was a paid consultant for the Astra Agreement, he wrote to the Treasury Department, saying the company brought together a “respected team of industry veterans and a high-profile political consultant team with extensive experience in cryptocurrencies.”

Lord McNicol wrote to officials that the Astra Agreement team was “unique, meaningful insights into the challenges and opportunities posed by regulating Defi (decentralized financing) and other crypto assets”. In his letter, he cautioned against allowing regulations to "suffer innovation." His emails and letters to the Ministry of Finance were issued under the Freedom of Information Act.

At that time, McNicol paid a monthly fixer through the Astra protocol, which introduced a token, and subsequently dropped its value by more than 99%. Later, he sat on the front stand of Starmer from autumn 2023 to July 2024, and in January this year he became a trade envoy for Jordan, Kuwait and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Lords Commissioner Margaret Obi wrote in her discovery: “I think Lord McNicol wrote to HM Treasury officials in his own name to provide paid parliamentary services for the Astra Agreement in his own name.

Although Lord McNichol said he did not receive a salary specifically for providing this advice to the HM Treasury, he obtained a monthly fixer through the Astra agreement. Therefore, I think it is reasonable to understand that this retainer could cover a variety of tasks he had undertaken for the company at the time, including his ticketing, including McNicol ransomware (HM McNicol).

The clause states that “no profit from the members of the house shall be sought by accepting or agreeing to accept payments or other incentives or rewards in exchange for council advice or services”.

"Although the letter answers questions raised in the evidence called by the HM Finance Ministry, it has also been used to facilitate the work of the Astra Agreement. In the letter, Lord McNicol mentioned the "unique product" of the Astra Agreement."

The Commissioner said she did not find this to be a major violation because it was a letter and did not take advantage of any special visits or contacts obtained with peers.

But she added: "Nevertheless, this is an obvious example of providing a council service in exchange for payments. It is not clear why the letter was sent exclusively in the name of Lord McNichol, not in the name of senior staff within the organization, such as the CEO or the Chairman.

"I want to provide my full and unreserved apology for the violation of the Code," McNicol said in a letter to Lord Kakkar, Chairman of the House of Lords Conduct Committee.

Two other peers are investigating after The Guardian report - Lord Evans and Lord Dannert. Both deny misconduct.

The complaint about McNicol was submitted to the Commissioner by Tom Brake, a director who unlocked democracy, former deputy leader of the House of Commons, who questioned the attitude of McNicol's Treasury officials.

Peers are allowed to play a paid role and must be listed on the public registry, but unlike members of Congress, they do not have to declare their income unless they work abroad.