A former British ambassador to Syria who appeared on the BBC to defend the Assad regime had already become a director of a lobby group run by the dictator’s father in law.

Peter Ford, 59, courted controversy this month by claiming that President Bashar al-Assad would not have carried out the chemical gas attack on his own people.

Now the Telegraph can reveal that just weeks before the April 4 attack Mr Ford had become a director of the controversial British Syrian Society.

This was founded by Fawaz Akhras, a London-based cardiologist whose daughter Asma is married to President Assad, and is closely linked to the regime, frequently accused of acting as its mouthpiece in the west.

According to documents filed at Companies House, Mr Ford - who has been accused of supporting the Syrian regime in the past - was appointed a director of the society on February 28 this year.

Following the chemical attack in Idlib province, which killed more than 70 people and subsequently led to retaliatory US air strikes on a regime air base, Mr Ford appeared on the BBC casting doubt on whether Assad was responsible.

The former ambassador, who served in Damascus from 2003 to 2006, said it was out of character for the Syrian president to provoke President Trump, just as Washington was taking a softer line compared to Barack Obama's policies on Syria.