14 March 2010

“I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.” So said David Cameron just last month.

Yet, as the Observer reveals this weekend, some of his party’s current crop of prospective MPs aren't being fully transparent with voters about their links to the lobbying industry.

The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency, of which SpinWatch is a member, has teamed up with 38 Degrees – the 100,000-strong online campaign group – to press for greater transparency in lobbying by asking Parliamentary candidates to pledge their support for new transparency rules for lobbyists.

Visit the campaign website to read more and email your prospective MP.

Sunday, 28 February 2010

Revealed in today’s Sunday Times are the ex-MPs working as commercial lobbyists who still have privileged access to Parliament.

The newspaper conservatively counts 25 ex-MPs who are currently working for lobbying firms, from a list of 200 former Members that hold House of Commons passes.

Thanks to a secret ruling by the former speaker, Michael Martin, most ex-MPs can now claim a parliamentary pass for life. This allows them access to Common’s facilities and the politicians who work there. That so many are working as lobbyists should come as no surprise: if a business wants to influence politics, who better to hire than an ex-MP who can work the tea rooms of Westminster on your behalf.

Although Commons rules forbid former MPs from using the pass to further their lobbying career, there are no safeguards to stop them from doing so.

With an unprecedented number of MPs standing down or set to lose their seats at the election, the amount of ex-MPs looking for lucrative lobbying work is likely to rise. Already Andrew MacKay MP – a former aide to Cameron – has signed up to work for lobbying giant Burson-Marsteller.

The list of names is the result of a two-year freedom of information battle between SpinWatch and the House of Commons. In the time it took the authorities to release the names, five of the ex-MPs on the list have died. Of the 200 names, over half are former Conservative Members.  

Download the complete list of ex-MPs with a parliamentary pass.

Lobbying: "It is the next big scandal waiting to happen... an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money... And we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way…"

So said David Cameron this week. But just how accurate is his depiction of the lobbying industry at work?

Today, Spinwatch publishes An Inside Job – a snapshot of political schmoozing by the City. The report looks at recent lobbying by the financial services industry and its many champions – from the banks themselves and their trade associations, to the lobbyists-for-hire, the City of London Corporation and the capital's Mayor, Boris Johnson. And it asks why – despite the UK government decrying the “fundamental unfairness of the rescue” of the banks – it shows no appetite for reform of the City to pre-empt another banking crisis.

An Inside Job reveals a well oiled revolving door between the finance industry, the government and its regulators, and opens a door onto the cosy social world they inhabit together (which includes many breakfasts, lunches and dinners).

9 February 2010

Ephraim Hardcastle writes in today's Daily Mail on Cameron's proposed clampdown on political lobbying firms: "Does he mean outfits like Huntsworth," Hardcastle asks, "which describes itself as 'a world class communications group with public relations as its core'? Its chief executive is Lord Chadlington, aka Peter Gummer, 67, president of Cameron's constituency party. He helped bankroll Dave's leadership campaign."

The Huntsworth Group has a number of lobbying firms under its wing including Grayling, Citigate Dewe Rogerson and Quiller Consultants. The first two companies come clean about who they are being paid to lobby for – they declare their clients under the current system of self-regulation; Quiller does not, in fact it seems to pride itself on keeping quiet: "We understand the importance of discretion, and of being able to give independent advice from a position of trust," it says.

Not quite up to the standards set by David Cameron, who just yesterday said: "I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics... It is the next big scandal waiting to happen".

Tamasin Cave, 8 February 2010

David Cameron admitted today that “secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.”



The Conservative Party must now pledge to support the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists, as recommended by the influential Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), chaired by Tony Wright MP.

In a speech this morning, Cameron said of lobbying: “It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long...an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works."

5 February 2010

Now we know the extent to which MPs are facilitating access to the House of Commons facilities for commercial lobbyists, thanks to information from the Commons banqueting office being made public.

The rules state that dining rooms must be ‘sponsored’ by an MP on behalf of an outside interest, with the MP in attendance, although David Cameron has already been pulled up on this.

Among those consultant lobbying firms out to impress their clients – almost treating the Commons as a private dinning room - are Edelman, which hosted seven functions in 18 months; Lexington Communications – two lunches, a tea and a dinner in 2005-06; and Political Intelligence, which notched up eleven dinners and receptions in just two years. Three of these were hosted by former Lib Dem MP Richard Allan, who stood down in 2005 before becoming a lobbyist for Political Intelligence’s one-time client, Cisco.

"We can’t go on like this. I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence." David Cameron, Feb 2010.

If you agree with Dave on this, vote now for new rules to force lobbyists to operate in the open.

Power2010 is a campaign where you get to push for political reform. Transparency rules for lobbyists is just one idea out of a long list of proposed reforms – the top 5 most popular ideas, as voted for by you, will become part of a major campaign in the run up to the general election. If lobbying transparency makes it into the top 5, there’s a strong chance that the proposal will become government policy.

Vote now for new rules to open up lobbying to public scrutiny – and let’s see who the government is really listening to.

Tamasin Cave 10 November 2009

UPDATE: The lobbyist's trade body, the PRCA, is now refusing to provide transparency campaigners with previous registers of lobbyists, although it says it will give them to others. To ask the PRCA to publish registers for the past year online, contact them here.

A month ago I pointed out some serious failings of the lobbyists’ trade body, the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), to provide transparency in lobbying (The state of lobbying self-regulation: Part 1).

The government has since announced that the PRCA, among others, will continue to be entrusted with the job of revealing who is lobbying whom and which areas of public policy lobbyists are seeking to influence. Despite repeated calls from MPs and campaigners, the government rejected the recommendation for a mandatory system with a statutory register of lobbyists. In its place, the public will have to rely on the industry’s own voluntary registers of lobbyists.

The criticism in my blog of the reliability of PRCA’s voluntary registers was met with a strange reproach ten days later from PRCA director general Francis Ingham: “You've been to a partial link, and so got half a register,” he said, although helpfully, he provided a URL to the most recent ‘complete’ register.

Ready to admit that perhaps, after much searching, I had only managed to find incomplete PRCA registers, I requested he send me the actual, correct registers from the last year – it’s only with past registers that Parliamentarians, journalists and the public can see influence at work. Ingham’s answer is revealing:

“If the Cabinet Office had come to me and said ‘please give us the registers from back in history’, I would make a fair effort to go back all the way that I could in a prompt and timely manner. But that’s, as I say, the government. You’re only another organisation just like ours.”

23 October 2009

The Government has dropped the ball on political reform – and ignored public concerns – by refusing to force lobbyists to operate in the open.

The Government’s long-awaited response to the Public Administration Select Committee’s (PASC) report into lobbying, announced this morning, dismissed its key recommendation for a compulsory register of lobbyists.

A simple statutory register of lobbyists, which has the support of some 200 MPs, would require all lobbyists to operate transparently and ensure that the public can see who government is really listening to, and the extent to which national policies are being influenced by mainly commercial interests.