Iain McNicol, a former secretary-general of the UK Labour Party and a current member of the House of Lords, has publicly apologized for breaching the parliamentary code of conduct. Investigations revealed that McNicol sent a letter to the Treasury promoting cryptocurrency company Astra Protocol in June 2023, when he was collecting monthly consultancy fees from the company. Margaret Obi, the standards commissioner in the House of Lords, determined that this constituted "the provision of paid parliamentary services" and breached the code of conduct for MPs.