Evgeny Lebedev and Ian Botham have lowest Lords attendance, records show

Figures seen by the Guardian show the two peers each attended just 1.12% of sessions in past four years

Evgeny Lebedev’s longstanding commitment to being the most relaxed member of the House of Lords has come under threat from another peer, Ian Botham, with both recording identical attendance rates of 1.12% over the past four years.

According to Lords records seen by the Guardian, Lebedev and Botham – who were both appointed by Boris Johnson – each managed to make it to seven of the 625 sessions of the upper house that took place from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025.

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Ian Botham saved from crocodile-infested waters by Ashes rival Merv Hughes

  • Former England cricketer was on fishing trip in Australia
  • ‘At the end of the day Crocodile Beefy survived,’ he jokes

Ian Botham, the former England cricketer, has survived a fall into crocodile-infested waters on a fishing trip in Australia’s Northern Territory after he was rescued by his close friend and Ashes rival, Merv Hughes.

Botham, 68, got his flip-flops tangled in a rope as he tried to board a boat and fell into the Moyle River during the pair’s four-day fishing trip.

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