Two young women recently glued themselves to the door of one of the UK’s biggest PR firms, Bell Pottinger. They had good reason to protest. An undercover operation had recorded PR executives boasting, in response to a request to help the vile Uzbekistan dictatorship, that they had access to the PM and Foreign Secretary and […]
Posts Tagged ‘Lobbying’
The “Lobbying Bill” – designed to bash unions not regulate lobbyists
Sep 3rd, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The Tory MP, Douglas Carswell, noted that Graham Allen MP described tomorrow’s Lobbying Bill as a “dog’s breakfast”. But, Carswell added, “he is wrong of course. Far more thought has gone into pet nutrition than into this Bill”. In fact, Carswell is himself wrong. No political party could, without great thought and ingenuity, introduce a […]
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The Tory lobbying bill is worse than a joke, it’s an insult
Jul 23rd, 2013 by Michael Meacher.There could hardly be a bill more deliberately mis-named and more cynically drafted than the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill published 4 days ago. It is riddled with more holes than a colander. It discriminatorily singles out trade unions for attack even though they are clearly campaigning organisations, not an […]
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Lobbying scandal? Better bring up the stale old anti-union vomit
Jun 5th, 2013 by Len McCluskey.If Britain’s political elite is despised for one thing as much as its corruption, from MPs’ expenses to the revolving door with business to its once more-exposed flogging of parliamentary influence for cash, it is its cynicism. The Cameron-Clegg response to the latest lobbying scandal shows why. Confronted with evidence of MPs and peers influence-peddling at the […]
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Tory manipulation of the lobbying issue is barefaced hypocrisy
Jun 5th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Every time there is a lobbying abuse at Westminster, which is a regular occurrence, the government immediately announces they will introduce a charter to stamp out abusive practices and spread transparency. Nothing then happens until the next shameful incident which forces the government to act (or rather not act) immediately again. The last time round […]
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Labour should prioritise unions over business
Sep 30th, 2012 by David Osler.There are 400 ‘business representatives’ at the Labour Party conference this week, to highlight an interesting choice of words found in a recent Financial Times report. I am kind of hoping that the phrase is an unnecessarily imprecise synonym for ‘exhibitors’. But if the rules have been changed while I wasn’t looking and the Confederation of […]
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Will Cameron stop corrupt dinners for policy change?
Apr 10th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.After Peter Cruddas, what? Now the brash, up-market barrow boy’s been topped, Tory central office has of course gone very quiet. But since the 23 dinners grace of Cameron/Osborne that we now know about raised several million pounds, it’s unlikely they will cease – just be ever so much more discreet.
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Lobbyists can still sleep soundly
Jan 22nd, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The Cameron technique becomes clearer by the day: Pick up a problem that is causing public anger, make an instant speech declaring himself fully on-side, and then hit it with a wet flannel. Bankers crash the economy and spark a slump – set up a Commission years later, then endorse its conclusions that are too […]
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Prevarication, obfuscation and delay are the government’s watchwords for lobbying
Jan 20th, 2012 by Jon Trickett.Prevarication. Obfuscation. Delay. These have been the three Government watchwords as they try to work out what to do with the lobbying industry. Finally released after months of delay, the Government report on lobbying has been sneaked out in the form of a written statement on a quiet Friday morning.
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Where Fox goes, is Gove far behind?
Oct 20th, 2011 by Michael Meacher.The Government has set great store on claiming that the Fox saga was a one-off. He had broken the Ministerial code, he had refused to heed warnings from his Permanent Secretary that his behaviour was outside the constitutional guidelines for such a sensitive position, and in effect he was running a privatised foreign and defence […]
