The sleaze watchdog rejected seven people for peerages in the dissolution honours, including MPs who had been censured by the Commons standards committee.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission judged five Conservative nominees, one Liberal Democrat and one from the Democratic Unionist Party unsuitable to take a seat in the upper chamber, a spokeswoman said.
Its vetting programme considers whether individuals’ past behaviour could be seen to bring the Lords into disrepute and whether they are of “good standing in the community and with the public regulatory authorities”.
A source close to the committee said that it gave “particular weight” to any investigations by the parliamentary standards commissioner and any criticism from the Commons standards and privileges committee. That explains why the Liberal Democrat David Laws, who quit as Treasury chief secretary and was suspended from the Commons for seven days in 2010 over breaches of expenses rules, was blocked while so many other former MPs caught up in the scandal were not. Other names of those rejected remain confidential. Parties have the chance to replace rejected candidates with substitutes, but David Cameron offered only one additional name, meaning the Tories ended up with four fewer peers than had been agreed between all sides. Mr Laws was replaced in the Lib Dem ranks by the former chief whip Andrew Stunell and the DUP did not seek a replacement.
The seven-strong commission is chaired by the non-party Lord Kakkar and includes a peer each from the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems — including the former Tory leader Lord Howard of Lympne — and three non-party political members. Candidates for a peerage also have to supply guarantees that they are resident in the UK for tax purposes and have no conflicting roles.