(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . General election: A Labour win won’t stop shadowy right-wing think tanks influencing policy [1] [] Date: 2024-06 Hello again. A slightly abridged newsletter this week, as by the time you read this Dark Arts will be on a stag do in Prague – recommendations are encouraged, along with tips, comments and the usual, via email: [email protected]. Last week saw the main political parties launch their manifestos, which for the most part offered few surprises. The Tory document was desperate, cobbled together and ultimately insignificant, while Labour’s was cautious, coherent on its own terms and, as expected, bore all the hallmarks of significant influence from business. Dark Arts’ favourite take on Labour’s plan came from leading lobbying hack Solomon Hughes’s centrist alter ego, William O’Pinion: “Radically Quiet”. Let it never be said that Dark Arts can’t own up to mistaken predictions. My money was on Labour omitting its previously announced pledge to scrap the carried interest loophole, but that commitment did appear in its manifesto – and we all know no party would ever renege on a manifesto commitment! That said, the policy has arguably already been watered down somewhat – private equity bosses will retain a lower tax rate on profits when their own cash is at risk – and the Financial Times reports that Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has told colleagues she will consult further on it, as Dark Arts predicted might be the case. So only half-wrong, right? Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now P.S – Thanks to whoever posted an actual physical tip-off letter to the openDemocracy offices about a certain intelligence-adjacent consultancy – it made me feel like a John Le Carre character. Exchanging ideas With Labour on the cusp of power for the first time in almost 15 years, the political media desperately needs to recalibrate how it scrutinises the party. We are used to thinking about rich donors and corporations having the ear of the Tories but there is plenty of evidence to suggest this issue won’t disappear once Keir Starmer enters Downing Street, as Dark Arts readers know all too well. Likewise, throughout the period of Tory rule, a great deal of attention has been paid to the activities of right-wing think tanks with opaque funding streams and strong ties to bad-guy industries such as tobacco or oil and gas. Rightly so, these organisations have successfully influenced policies that benefit their ultimate paymasters on policing, climate, taxation and more. But consider this: these think tanks represent the interests of some of the most powerful individuals and companies in the world – they won’t be content to simply snipe from the sidelines and await the return of their preferred ideological bedfellows into government. They will instead try to influence Labour. And given the party’s tendency to tack right on many issues under Starmer, and the likely rightward pressure exerted by the media and an invigorated hard-right fringe led by Nigel Farage in the years to come, they will likely have some success. Take Policy Exchange, the highly opaque think tank that openDemocracy revealed to have proposed measures that Rishi Sunak passed into law in the draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. The think tank already has close ties to the Labour Party. It hosted events at the last two Labour conferences, with panel discussions sponsored by arms manufacturers, outsourcers and finance companies, and in late 2022, its report calling for widespread reform of the NHS (see: increased privatisation) was launched with a speech from shadow health secretary Wes Streeting at the Policy Exchange HQ. In February this year, shadow defence secretary John Healey picked the same venue for a major speech on defence policy, in which he pledged to “make defence…central to the country’s success” (see: increase spending with arms manufacturers). But that’s not all. While Policy Exchange hosts a number of public events – such as this Q&A in March with shadow minister Sarah Jones on Labour’s industrial policy – in order to get the really juicy stuff, businesses have to pay, and their payment secures privacy. The think tank runs a series of private ‘Business Forum’ events, where politically influential speakers address rooms full of executives and take questions. In this way, the think tank acts much like a corporate lobbyist. Much has been made of government ministers appearing at Policy Exchange’s public events, but at least in these cases there is a record of their attendance. Dark Arts can reveal that at least four Labour frontbenchers have appeared at the think tank’s private Business Forum events in the past year: shadow exports minister Tan Dhesi, shadow skills minister Seema Malhotra, shadow treasury minister James Murray, and shadow science minister Chi Onwurah. As ever, Labour refused to comment on what was discussed at these meetings, or who was present. But we know from government transparency records that arms manufacturer QinetiQ, mining firm Anglo American, City consultant Grant Thornton – which has a staffer in Keir Starmer’s team – and Dark Arts’ favourite asset manager, Macquarie, are all members of Policy Exchange’s Business Forum. Labour’s links to right-wing think tanks don’t end there. Since February last year, the party has received more than £430,000 from Stuart Roden, a former hedge fund boss whose net worth was estimated at around £280m by the Sunday Times Rich List in 2019. Roden retains an interest in the finance industry as a non-executive chair of two investment firms, and sits on the seven-man board of directors at the Centre for Social Justice, another opaque think tank, which was founded by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. Then there’s Starmerite think-tank/corporate cash funnel Labour Together, which is said to have modelled itself on Onward, the slightly less opaque right-wing think tank that has close ties to Sunak’s Downing Street operation. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that Labour Together’s head of partnerships and development joined the organisation directly from Onward earlier this year. The substandard committee Strap in lads, we’re talking lobbying regulation! The Wild West of lobbying has no real sheriff. The main legislation governing the industry is not fit for purpose – to mix historical metaphors, it has more loopholes than a mediaeval castle – which is agreed by everyone from standards campaigners to politicians to lobbyists themselves. One way that firms can signal a commitment to ethical lobbying is by becoming a member of the trade industry body, the Public Relations and Communications Association. Most reputable firms in the UK are members, though notable absentees are the only two lobbying firms run by former Labour secretaries of state; Peter Mandelson’s Global Counsel and Jim Murphy’s Arden Strategies. In theory, member organisations must adhere to a set of rules relating to their conduct. In theory, breaching these rules can have consequences up to and including termination of membership. But how do the rules work in practice? As referenced in last week’s newsletter, back in April Dark Arts raised a series of complaints with the PRCA relating to the conduct of five lobbying firms: Sovereign Partners, Atticus Partners, PLMR, Hanover and Headland. The first complaint was about Sovereign’s £5,000 donation to deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, news of which I releaved earlier this year. This complaint seemed pretty open and shut; Clause 9 of the PRCA’s Public Affairs Code states that members must not “make any award or payment in money or in kind to any MP”. Sovereign isn’t the only lobbying firm to have donated in some form to an MP – a number have given staff through secondments, one firm bought Tory windbag Jon Gullis some podcasting kit, and another funded a battle bus for Rayner. But this seemed like the most straightforwardly violative example: cash given directly to an MP. To make matters worse, when Dark Arts contacted Sovereign, a spokesperson claimed the donation had been made by the firm’s director “through his personal funds” and that the record would be corrected to reflect this in due course. This turned out to be what might kindly be termed ‘bollocks’ – a Labour HQ source confirmed to Dark Arts that the payment had in fact come directly from Sovereign Strategy Limited’s company bank account. For shame! Further confirmation came a few weeks later when the latest edition of the register of members’ financial interests was published and, lo and behold, there was no correction. Dark Arts’ other complaints related to a rule in the Public Affairs Code that, in fairness, may be a little more open to interpretation. Clause 13 states that “members must keep strictly separate from their duties and activities as public affairs practitioners any personal activity on behalf of a political party…” – and, here’s the kicker – “...including as an office holder or candidate for office”. After publishing our investigation in March, Dark Arts provided extensive evidence to PRCA that staffers at Atticus Partners, PLMR, Hanover and Headland had all been involved with private meetings between Labour frontbenchers and clients of their respective lobbying firms, while they were standing as Labour candidates. These meetings were billed not only as an opportunity for clients to hear from a sitting Labour minister, but to have the conversation mediated by a potential future Labour MP. This would seem, in Dark Arts’ humble view, to constitute a blurring of the line between the professional and the personal. In total, we shared details and evidence of 14 meetings over a nine-month period, involving Hanover’s Polly Billington (candidate for South Thanet), PLMR’s Jack Abbott (Ipswich), Atticus Partners’ James Frith (Bury North) and Headland’s Gregor Poynton (Livingston). They introduced clients to senior party figures, including shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and shadow treasury ministers Darren Jones and Tulip Siddiq. Before revealing the outcome of these complaints, a brief explanation of the process. The PRCA recently changed how it deals with complaints, deciding to ‘outsource’ decisions to an arms-length Standards Committee made up of five members, who meet at least twice a year to discuss complaints and decide what action, if any, should be taken. Three of the committee’s members are legal professionals from outside the industry, and the other two are the heads of the PRCA’s PR/communications and public affairs boards – which are, in turn, made up of industry figures from member organisations. The public affairs board was recently reconstituted, welcoming 19 new members – four of whom work for firms named in our complaint. The new chair of the public affairs board, who sits on the Standards Committee, works at Hanbury Strategy, which was not named in our complaint but does employ four Labour candidates – more than any other firm. No prizes then, for guessing the committee’s ruling when it met to discuss our complaints earlier this month: no further action needed. Show me the money: week one Elections are a very exciting time for Dark Arts, because rather than having to wait months for new political donations data, the Electoral Commission releases new information every week of the campaign. Dark Arts is of the view that most people and companies that give money to a political party expect something in return – even if it’s just proximity to power. Why would they bother if not? And on that basis there are clearly many reasons to donate to Labour. The early figures suggest the continuation of a trend towards a major realignment in British politics, with Labour becoming the party that takes significantly more cash from private donors and companies than the Conservatives. Though things may change as the campaign goes on, it seems unlikely that anyone but the most ideologically committed Tory donors are likely to chuck much cash aboard a sinking ship. What money does come in may well be used to shore up preferred figures to lead the party in opposition and try to influence the inevitable ground-up rebuild of the party which will follow electoral wipeout. Below are the top donors to each of the main political parties from week one of the election campaign, and the total received in that period. Labour and Co-operative Party: £1,046,908.33 £500,000 from Toledo Productions £100,000 from Tony Bury £90,000 from Gary Lubner (to Co-operative Party) £70,000 from Clive Hollick £70,000 from Stuart Roden Conservatives: £574,000 £88,085 Bassim Haidar £75,000 from Alasdair J D Locke £50,000 from Bruce Hardy McLain £50,000 from Centrax Industries £50,000 from Lord Michael S Farmer £50,000 from Lord Stanley Fink Liberal Democrats: £454,999 £150,000 Adam Management Holdings £100,000 GADF Holdings Limited £99,999 Old Broad Street Accountants £25,000 Peter Bennettt Reform UK: £140,000 £50,000 R Smith Group £50,000 Fitriani Hay £40,000 Peter Hall Scottish National Party: £127,998.35 £127,988.35 Robert Benzie (the party’s first major donation from a living donor in a number of years) Quick Hits The Growth agenda: Political commentators are starting to catch on that Labour’s plan for the economy has more in common with Liz Truss’ approach than either Truss or Starmer would care to admit. At the heart of it rests a quasi-religious faith in private sector-driven growth to rescue a badly ailing economy in the absence of public sector spending increases. What this will mean in practice is that Labour will seek out vast amounts of private investment from firms that, due to their very nature, will expect to see significant profits from that investment. That’s why Reeves has tasked a panel of major financiers to dream up ways to kick start growth and attract investment. Those involved in the brainstorm include execs from HSBC, Santander and BlackRock. Spoiled for choice: My story last week centred around the tough choice faced by the good people of Central Suffolk and Ipswich North, where a Tory nepo-baby goes head-to-head with a Labour lobbying boss – both of whom are accused of buying their way onto the ballot. Well, over in Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, the offer to voters is similarly varied. Labour’s candidate, and likely the seat’s next MP, is Chris Ward, who Dark Arts readers may remember is a former Labour staffer and now director of lobbying firm Hanbury Strategy’s Labour Unit. Opposing Ward in the seat is Khobi Patterson-Vallis, former Conservative staffer and now director at lobbying firm Hanover Communications. Who says politicians are all the same? Now check out Read: Solomon Hughes’ deepdive into Labour Together for Tribune Listen to: This Novara Media interview with Brett Christophers, the author of Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World, a fantastic book on the overwhelming power and influence of firms like Macquarie and BlackStone Watch: The Euros, of course [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/labour-right-wing-think-tanks-shape-policy-influence-keir-starmer-rachel-reeves-policy-exchange/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/