Fred Thompson, the surprise package in the 2008 presidential race, is facing growing scrutiny over his lobbying work for a British insurance company seeking to limit its liability for asbestos claims.

The actor and former Republican senator is due to have coffee with Baroness Thatcher in London this morning and then meet David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, as part of a visit designed to strengthen his foreign policy credentials before an announcement next month that he is running for president.

Yesterday Mr Thompson made a speech to the conservative Policy Exchange think-tank, entitled “Strengthening the Transatlantic Alliance”, on the special relationship between the US and Britain. But his relationship with Equitas, a British company set up by Lloyds to manage its liabilities after the financial crisis of the 1990s, could yet cast a shadow of his White House prospects.

Mr Thompson has declared payments of $760,000 (£380,000) that he received from Equitas between 2004 and 2006 for his lobbying work over proposed legislation for setting up a trust fund to pay all future asbestos claims in America. Although the Bill eventually failed, Mr Thompson and other lobbyists succeeded in removing a clause which, they said, would have unfairly penalised Equitas.

The asbestos insurance claims are often described as a “bottomless pit” that have already led to the bankrupting of many American companies. There could eventually be as many as 600,000 claims, costing upwards of $100 billion. Thousands of Americans die each year because of diseases caused by their exposure to the building material.

Equitas, which recognises that it will have to pay out billions of dollars on asbestos, complained that it has been singled out in the Bill as a foreign company for unlimited liability on what it might have to contribute to the trust fund.

Mr Thompson’s role, according to a report in The Washington Post, was to glean intelligence from senators, including Bill Frist, then the majority leader, with whom he had jointly represented Tennessee for nine years.

There are suggestions that such links will play badly with voters, who remember recent lobbying scandals, particularly because Mr Thompson plans to base his campaign on being a Washington outsider.

Martin Baach, who co-ordinated the Equitas lobbying team, said yesterday: “Of course we were aware that Frist came from Tennessee and Thompson came from Tennessee but most of the activity was on the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Frist was not a member.”

Neither Mr Thompson nor his aides were available for comment yesterday. But Mark Corallo, his spokesman, has previously dismissed concerns about his work for Equitas and defended lobbying as an “honourable endeavour that goes back to the beginnings of this republic.”

Mr Thompson has emerged in the latest opinions as running a strong second to Rudy Giuliani in the contest for the Republican nomination.

Fred Thompson

— Born in Alabama in 1942

— Shot to fame aged 30 for leading Watergate inquiry that revealed the White House audio-taping system

— As a prosecutor, he helped to remove Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton from power for selling pardons

— Played himself in the film of the scandal (Marie, 1985)

— Elected in 1994 to finish the remaining two years of Al Gore’s Senate term after Gore elected Vice-President

— Appointed in 2005 to an informal advisory position by President Bush

Source: imwithfred.com

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