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A Conservative MP Mark Field, member of the committee that scrutinizes the security services, is being paid £6,000 a year by a pro-Azerbaijan lobby group, says the major British newspaper The Guardian.

According to the newspaper, the 46-year-old Mark Field, the youngest ever MP in the history of the committee, which reports directly to the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and oversees the intelligence and security services of United Kingdom, joined the advisory board of the European Azerbaijan Society.

Apart from that, he is also the chairman of the all-party group for Azerbaijan. Regarding to this, the Labour MPs have questioned whether Field's new job was appropriate, considering the sensitive nature of the work of the intelligence committee.

"Azerbaijan's government has been criticised this year by the Foreign Office and Amnesty International for torturing protesters campaigning for political reforms", says the British newspaper, noting that in the country ruled by the authoritarian president Ilham Aliev, the human rights record is poor, the journalists are being harassed and jailed, the candidates from the opposition are being disqualified and the voter are intimidated.

In March 2011, as noted in the article of The Guardian, the Amnesty International called upon the authorities of Azerbaijan to end their crackdown on activists, who, inspired by the recent events in the Middle East and north Africa, were preparing for a protest. "Detainees said they had been waterboarded and threatened with rape while in police custody", The Guardian says.

In May, Mark Field visited Azerbaijan, where he had meetings with senior Azeri politicians, and in July 2010 he spoke at the NATO conference in Baku. This year in March Prince Andrew asked MP Field for support in parliament and UK governmental administration for British investments in Azerbaijan, when they met at Buckingham Palace.

The European Azerbaijan Society, according the newspaper, was launched in November 2008 to promote Azerbaijan to international audiences. Its main funder and the director is the 26-year-old businessman Tale Heydarov, the son of one of the Azeri ministers. Over the past years, the Society has increased its profile in Westminster by providing secretarial services for the all-party parliamentary group on Azerbaijan. In addition, the "Conservative Friends of Azerbaijan" was founded by the society this year, which has 25 Tory parliamentarians as members.

Meanwhile Labour MP John Mann said that in this matter there is an obvious conflict of interest. Another member of Parliament from the Labour Party Lisa Nandi, who chairs the all-party group on corporate responsibility, said: "As one of a small number of parliamentarians who have the power to influence the British intelligence services and access to highly sensitive information, it is inappropriate that he [Mark Field] is paid by a company promoting a government that is willing to torture those who question the status quo."