RollOnFriday can exclusively reveal that the man at the heart of the "peers for hire" scandal previously accepted money from Hammonds.
Lord Taylor of Blackburn, who is now being investigated after the Sunday Times accused him of offering to influence legislation in return for money, was a paid parliamentary consultant to Hammonds for two years in the nineties. Although clearly not a very successful one, given the firm's many woes since then.
The firm told RollOnFriday that this was incorrect, and that he "resigned his position by mutual agreement approximately ten years ago". It wouldn't comment on how much Taylor had been paid.