Rupert Ponsonby

Rupert Ponsonby (Lord De Mauley), is a excepted hereditary in the House of Lords. He became a Conservative member of the Lords in March 2005.

Outside of parliament

After leaving his role as parliamentary under secretary to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ponsonby sought the advice of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments regarding his appointment to two roles outside of parliament.

The first position was a paid, part-time position as a panel member for sales consultancy group Youd Andrews. As De Mauley had no dealings with the company while in office and the role did not involve lobbying government, his former department took no issue with the appointment. ACOBA advised that on the conditions he did not use any privileged information from his time in office and that he serve a two year lobbying ban from his last day in government, Ponsonby could assume the role and he took up the role in January 2016.

The second position Ponsonby inquired about was that of becoming a trustee for the Horse Trust. Although De Mauley had some contact with the company whilst at Defra, the committee noted that the appointment was an unpaid one which involved no form of lobbying government. If he observed the conditions of the previous appointment, the committee saw no reason as to why De Mauley could not undertake the post, and he did so in June 2016.