So, just so we’re clear about this: people pretending to be lobbyists appear to be able to persuade parliamentarians to do their bidding (for cash, natch) and this therefore justifies introducing a statutory register of lobbyists.
You need no diploma in cynicism to perceive that this is aimed at protecting stupid and greedy politicians rather more than it is a serious attempt at “regulating” lobbying or access to politicians. It’s a means of helping MPs avoid embarrassment. Now they can check to see if the people paying them are real lobbyists! Result!
Which is fine (and the coalition gains bonus Urquhart points for using the measure to stiff the Trades Unions too). But let’s not pretend that it’s actually about “cleaning up politics”.
Again, I don’t think anyone with any experience of Washington DC – where a register of lobbyists already exists – really thinks it has made any great difference to the industry.
But what it might do is protect MPs from journalists posing as lobbyists. Then again, if MPs and peers are stupid enough to fall for an organisation boasting a website so bad it might have been created by contestants from The Apprentice then more fool them. The (fake) Alistair Andrews website is shockingly amateurish. By contrast, this is what a real lobby shop’s website looks like.
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