In the midst of the David Cameron-Greensill lobbying scandal — a gift to the Labour party if ever there was one — Keir Starmer’s frontbench have managed to overshoot the mark. Talking up what she clearly hoped will be another storm for the government to weather, shadow business minister Lucy Powell had some strong words:
It stinks, really, that a billionaire businessman can text the Prime Minister and get an immediate response and apparently an immediate change in policy. It seems like the country only works for people who are rich enough or influential enough and, frankly, donors to the Tory party, who have the personal mobile number of the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
At PMQs, Starmer also weighed in, accusing Boris of being at the centre of a pattern of government ‘sleaze’.
Trying to spot the scandal? You’re not alone
So what is this latest potential lobbying row? The reality is rather dull. In March 2020, as the Covid crisis first unfolded, Britain was short of ventilators. James Dyson’s company responded to the urgent call for help, amidst fears the NHS could soon be overwhelmed. He was keen to assist but, perhaps understandably, sought assurances from the Prime Minister that his overseas employees would not be hit with extra tax if they came to the UK to lend a hand.
Trying to spot the scandal? You’re not alone. If Dyson had said he would do the work but only if he got a peerage, Powell’s reaction would be understandable. But there was nothing crooked about the Dyson deal, at least from what’s been made public. Labour is making a mountain out of nothing here. In the process, they are making themselves look more than a little foolish and desperate.
Can Starmer’s top team spot the difference between what David Cameron did and what James Dyson did? It doesn’t appear so. It seems instead that they merely think all lobbying is bad, no matter what. It’s safe to say this approach won’t win them many voters among pragmatic Brits who understand Boris’s frantic messages were sent during a national emergency.
People lobby the government all the time for completely legitimate purposes. Trade unions do it constantly. It is one of the reasons the entire movement exists, in fact. These organisations seek to use their clout to try and get the government to make employee friendly policy. Green groups do something similar — they lobby the government to enact more sustainable policies. Lobbying is actually an important part of civil society; it is a link between the boffins and the real world. But you won’t hear that from Starmer.
What’s perhaps oddest about Labour’s reaction to the story is that James Dyson wasn’t even technically lobbying the government here at all, which makes it an odd ‘lobbying scandal’ indeed. He was simply responding to a call for help.
Even Tony Blair — no friend of Boris — agrees there isn’t anything to see here. When asked about it on the Today programme, the former prime minister responded:
We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and after all, we were actually asking James Dyson to step forward and start making ventilators. I find it hard to get worked up about this… There’s got to be a certain degree of understanding. If you’re in the middle of a huge crisis like this, people are going to be using every means they can to make sure they respond to the immediate crisis.
An ex-prime minister trying to use his political contacts to make a lot of money is very different to a business owner who is trying to help Britain in its hour of need.
Of course, Labour’s fury at Dyson might stem from his views on Brexit or his decision to up sticks to Singapore. Fair enough. But unless there is a lot more to this story than has been made public, this is all smoke and no fire — and Labour’s frontbench should have known better.
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