Peer asked British diplomat to help Ghana goldmine in which he held shares

Richard Dannatt told the Guardian he had ‘always sought to abide by the letter and the spirit of all rules’. Photograph: Mike Lawn/Shutterstock

A member of the House of Lords asked a senior British diplomat to help a Ghanaian goldmining venture in which he held shares, claiming it was “in the UK national interest”, the Guardian can disclose.

The revelation will add to concerns about apparent breaches of parliamentary lobbying rules by Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army. The peer is already under scrutiny over his lobbying for several companies, leading in two cases to investigations by the Lords’ standards body.