Irvine Laidlaw, the multi-millionaire businessman and Conservative party donor, has agreed to renounce his partial tax exile status in return for a peerage.

Laidlaw, founder of the Institute for International Research conferences group, told the FT he was taking up British residency for the first time in 22 years in order to gain a seat in the Lords.

Speaking from his Monaco home, the Scottish tycoon said he "would not have become a resident if it were not for the peerage".