JACK Straw is unlikely to be elevated to the House of Lords when the next wave of appointments are revealed after May’s general election, it is believed.

The Blackburn MP was tipped to be nominated for a seat on the red benches once he had stepped down from the House of Commons after 36 years.

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But aides to Labour leader Ed Miliband have reportedly said the former foreign secretary would not be offered a peerage in light of him being the subject of a cash for access controversy.

Mr Straw was secretly filmed in his parliamentary office holding meetings with a fake Chinese firm and discussed working for the company once he had stepped down.

The controversy has called into question whether Mr Straw would receive a place in the House of Lords.

Mr Straw said his potential move across the parliamentary estate was ‘pure speculation’ and he would not comment further.

He did however comment on the proposed move while being secretly filmed by the undercover reporters posing as the PR firm’s staff.

In the video, which was broadcast on Monday night’s Dispatches episode on Channel 4, Mr Straw said he would be able to help the firm further if he was a member of the upper house.

In the show, Sir Alistair Grant, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “It’s cheeky of him to assume he is going to be appointed to the House of Lords.

“He needs to brush up on the regulations as the House of Lords has had a fair number of cases themselves and have gone to some lengths to strengthen the regulations and the disciplinary process.

“It’s understandable that he wants to have a positive and structured retirement and wants to have an income that takes advantage of his past public experiences.

“But it’s worrying he is using public facilities to negotiate contracts for when he is outside parliament.”

“MPs are there to support their parliamentary duties, not to further their private interests.”