Finance
Exclusive: Watchdog probing Starmer aide’s secret lobbying of Tory ministers
openDemocracy findings on Varun Chandra’s activities at Hakluyt prompted official watchdog to launch investigation
Ethan Shone
Finance
Revealed: Banking giant threatened to leave UK over mooted tax increase
JP Morgan Chase wrote to Rachel Reeves to lobby against rumoured banking surcharge rise ahead of autumn budget
Keir Starmer
The veteran Tory and City lobbyist advising Starmer’s business team
Iain Anderson’s newfound love for Labour has raised eyebrows across Westminster and worried some in the party
Westminster
Dark Arts Dispatch: Westminster is a ‘safe space’ for lobbyists
Plus, how Peter Mandelson might find common ground with Trump in rumoured new role as UK ambassador to Washington
Greenwashing
Dark Arts Dispatch: Corporate capture, utilisation and storage
Plus, a Labour donor wins big on government contracts, a would-be MP fails upwards and the smoking lobby returns
Media
Dark Arts Dispatch: Rogue investors, lobbyist cricket and visitors at No 10
Firms fined for breaching environmental, labour and consumer protection rules are stars of Labour’s investment summit
Keir Starmer
Revealed: No 10 advisor involved in AI policy has financial interests in AI
Varun Chandra left an MI6-linked consultancy to join Starmer’s government, but he still has a stake in its AI-backing investment fund
Keir Starmer
Labour given £4m from tax haven-based hedge fund with shares in oil and arms
Quadrature’s donation is noteworthy not just for being Labour’s largest-ever, but for its timing ahead of election
Labour
You have no right to know which MPs got elected with the help of lobbyists
A lobbyist can give a Labour MP £1,499 without it being declared. And that's still true if they give 30 Labour MPs £1,499
Keir Starmer
Concerts, clothes and New York breaks: New ministers take £170,000 of gifts
Starmer has accepted more than anybody else since start of 2023, raising questions over what donors get in return
Keir Starmer
Inside the Westminster networking events where lobbyists and politicians mix
No 10 refused to say who attended a Downing Street business reception. So Dark Arts found out
Keir Starmer
The army of private sector secondees who helped Labour win
Private firms have given Labour £1.8m worth of secondments and pro-bono work since 2022. What do they get in return?