If the new government wishes to avoid lobbying scandals, it must change the law – fast, writes Rachel Clamp

It wasn’t that long ago, as focus on the pandemic started to fade, that the front pages were dedicated to stories about politicians – and former politicians – using their “little black books” to lobby the government on behalf of paying businesses. Only their little black books were actually mobile phones and they were busy Whatsapping their friends in government, waiting for the two little blue ticks to appear in the hope that their lobbying was seen by the right person at the right time.

But it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Over a decade ago the Cameron government, concerned that lobbying was the next big scandal waiting to happen, passed the 2014 Lobbying Act, creating a public register so voters could see who was lobbying whom. The ‘light of transparency’ would now be shone on British politics.

And yet, in almost cosmic irony, the lobbying scandal........

© City A.M.