Revealed: Corporate lobbyists were at heart of Labour’s election campaign

More than a dozen corporate lobbyists were quietly deployed to work at the heart of Labour’s general election campaign team, openDemocracy can reveal.

Many took on influential roles with the party for free, meaning their involvement didn’t need to be declared to election authorities despite likely being worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The lobbyists work at firms representing private healthcare companies, the financial services industry, private rail operators and major polluters.

They have now returned to their employers after a leave of absence, with bolstered contact books and extensive experience of the party’s internal operations and processes.

One lobbyist described the arrangement as “win-win-win” and one that would help a company’s “future relationships”.

Industry insiders told openDemocracy that these experiences are invaluable for lobbyists because senior Labour Party figures may later feel they owe a favour to the individuals or their employers, which could be leveraged to get access for the lobbyists’ clients.

Parties accepting the services of corporate lobbyists are in danger of “being influenced by whichever vested interests they represent”, said George Havenhand, senior legal researcher at Spotlight on Corruption, which aims to expose the UK’s role in corruption at home and overseas.

He continued: “This creates a real risk that party – and ultimately government – policies will be skewed away from the public interest, in circumstances that make it impossible for the public to understand who is exerting influence.”

The public affairs industry body, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, told openDemocracy that services “should never be provided in the hope of a fast-track lane when lobbying on behalf of clients” and called for legislation to bring greater transparency and accountability to the industry.

openDemocracy identified at least eleven lobbyists who spent weeks working for the party during the election campaign, with many given roles close to the leader’s office and party HQ.

They include Jonathan Lima-Matthews, the head of public affairs at financial industry lobbying organisation UK Finance. After the election finished, he shared a post on social media saying that he had volunteered with Labour throughout the campaign, working with the central team.

“Tomorrow,” he wrote, “I am back working with my brilliant team at UK Finance to begin the work of a fresh legislative agenda, and to engage the new government and Parliament.”

One of the responses to the post came from Vidhya Alakeson, Labour’s former head of business engagement who was promoted after the election and is now political director at Number 10. She thanked Lima-Matthews “for everything you contributed”.

openDemocracy reached out to Labour and the lobbying firms for comment, including asking if their employees had taken leave of absence to work for the party, or if they were still being paid for the time they were volunteering. Neither Labour nor any of the lobbying firms responded to openDemocracy’s request for comment.

‘Win-win-win’

It is not uncommon for political campaigns to utilise volunteers during elections. The vast majority are members or supporters who spend a few hours a day leafleting, canvassing or helping out their local candidate in other ways. This is typically done alongside their work or other commitments.

But throughout this year’s election period, Labour benefitted from a significant number of senior professional lobbyists working full-time in influential roles in the party’s campaign.

They include a lobbyist from Teneo, a major global consultancy with clients including McDonald’s, Santander, Thames Water, Unilever, Tata Steel and Equitix. The firm was embroiled in the Greensill scandal – in which former prime minister David Cameron lobbied government ministers and advisers on behalf of Greensill Capital, a bank in which he had an economic interest – but an investigation by the statutory lobbying watchdog ruled that it had not broken any rules.

Teneo director Rob Fuller took a leave of absence for six weeks to volunteer with Labour. Posting on LinkedIn after the election, Fuller shared a picture of himself inside the Labour ‘battle bus’, writing that he had “worked with some absolutely fantastic people”.

Labour’s chief operating officer and former lobbyist, John Lehal, commented on the post, saying: “We were lucky to have you”.

Another public affairs professional also commented on the post, describing the arrangement as “win-win-win”. He added: “Great experience for you, great for Labour to have your strategic advice and great for Teneo for future relationships.”

Other lobbyists who helped Labour’s election campaign include Jack Smith, who has worked directly for the Labour Party in the past, including a stint as an elections and campaigns manager between 2017 and 2019.

Last month, he wrote a blog for his employer, lobbying firm Headland, about his experiences volunteering with the party during the election. In it, Smith said he worked for Labour for six weeks, “as part of the election team”, adding that the campaign was built “on solid foundations of deep primary research with voter groups”.

Smith’s role at Headland includes “heading up Labour Party engagement and counsel” and “focussing on regulatory and reputational issues for clients in highly scrutinised sectors such as energy, transport, infrastructure and finance”. The company’s clients include Scottish Power, Tata Steel UK and Anglian Water, as well as financial industry representatives TheCityUK and the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Another lobbying firm, Stonehaven – which works with the likes of Heathrow Airport, EDF and the Rail Delivery Group – saw five members of staff working for Labour during the campaign. Three worked in the party’s central offices, either on the strategy and insight team or in the press office. The others worked on local campaigns, including that of new health secretary Wes Streeting.

Alex Savage, a managing consultant at Stonehaven, who worked with Labour’s strategy and insight team, described his time at the party as a “secondment”. He wrote on Linkedin that his role involved “hours of focus groups and wading through data tables, days of campaigning in marginal seats from Scotland to London”.

Field Consulting, another lobbying firm with major clients in the transport sector, saw its account director and head of research, Vincent Fabri, working with the strategy and insight team in Keir Starmer’s office for the whole campaign. After the election, Fabri shared a picture of himself on LinkedIn with several senior Labour staffers and Ben Szreter, the chief of staff at the Labour Together think tank. Two of these figures thanked Fabri for his role in the campaign, and Starmer’s head of strategy, Deborah Mattinson, also commented on the post.

Another lobbyist, Daniel Rice, also worked in Labour’s digital campaigns team for the duration of the election. Rice is a director at lobbying firm 5654 & Company, which has represented private healthcare giant HCA Healthcare, Coca-Cola and energy firm Drax.

If they were being paid for their time, the set-up would need to be declared with the Electoral Commission as a donation in-kind of staff costs.

openDemocracy’s analysis of publicly available information and conversations with sources indicate that campaign volunteers also came from firms including Hawthorn Advisors, PLMR and Beyond 2050, although it is unclear what capacity this was in and what campaign roles they took.

The findings follow reports in June that Labour was “funnelling campaign staff and volunteers from groups such as Labour Together… and Arden”. Arden Strategies is a lobbying firm run by former Labour secretary of state Jim Murphy.

‘Damaging public trust’

Because most of the lobbyists volunteered for the party, their contribution is not classed as a donation in-kind and therefore does not need to be registered with the Electoral Commission.

But even a conservative estimate of their value to Labour’s campaign would run to several thousand pounds for each individual lobbyist.

Many within the lobbying industry have called for wholesale reform of the rules governing the sector, including greater transparency around all aspects of lobbying.

Havenhand of Spotlight on Corruption told openDemocracy: “The Electoral Commission should look into how lobbyists could be prevented from volunteering or being seconded to political parties during election campaigns, to reduce the risk of policy capture and help maintain public trust in government and the policymaking process.”

This sentiment was shared by Rachael Clamp, the president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, who acknowledged that during elections, political parties may “need politically astute and experienced professionals at the ready”, but added: “The services should never be provided in the hope of a fast-track lane when lobbying on behalf of clients.”

Clamp continued: “Any suggestion of preferential access damages the already fragile trust in our politics. This can be solved with new legislation that improves transparency, accountability, and ethical practice so that all voices get a fair hearing in the policy debate and a public record of all activity.”

Tom Brake, director of campaign group Unlock Democracy, said public affairs firms should reveal these arrangements, in the interests of transparency.

He said: “Transparency is one of the essential ingredients in rebuilding trust in government. Whilst there is no requirement for public affairs companies or lobbyists to reveal whom their staff were volunteering for during the general election, it will reassure the public if they do. It will also ensure that any contracts secured by these companies in the future will be subject to greater scrutiny.”