Much was made of Ian ‘beefy’ Botham’s ennoblement in 2020. The hero of Headingley was the headline announcement of the 36 new peers created in Boris Johnson’s dissolution honours’ list; a year later he received another bauble as a UK trade ambassador to Australia. The then Trade Secretary Liz Truss claimed he would ‘bat for business down under’, with the cricketer subsequently undertaking a nationwide tour Down Under in June this year.

Botham’s Brexit-backing credentials have earned him fans in government but that enthusiasm isn’t shared by all in the Upper House. Given his many sporting and philanthropic commitments, it’s perhaps no surprise that the cricketing icon hasn’t turned out much in the chamber. To date he has made just two spoken contributions – with the last coming two years ago in November 2020. His last vote was cast in July 2021 and he has asked just one written question (on wildfires) in April that year.

And Botham might be forgiven for asking whether life in the Lords is more trouble than it is worth. For the House of Lords standards’ watchdog has now announced that he is under investigation over an alleged failure to correctly register his interests properly. It’s not the first time the iconoclastic Englishman has had such troubles. In May 2021 he was forced to apologise to the Commissioner for Standards at the House of Lords, for not registering his personal services company, from which he and his wife had taken a loan of almost £200,000.

Talk about being on a sticky wicket.

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