Following recent lobbying scandals, it might have been presumed that MPs were being more cautious, fully aware of public anger at the corruption in politics. Yet less than a month after a cringe-inducing Led by Donkeys video showed high-profile Tory MPs and ex-secretaries of state asking for payments of up to £10,000 a day to work for a fake South Korean company, another scandal has been revealed.
This week, Tory MP Scott Benton was suspended from his party pending an investigation after undercover footage captured by reporters for the Times appeared to show him offering to lobby ministers on behalf of gambling investors in exchange for money.
Philip Davies, another MP approached in the newspaper sting, was so suspicious of the undercover operation that he refused to engage. By contrast, Benton was apparently prepared to leak market-sensitive information to a bogus investment fund and ask parliamentary questions on its behalf.
He appeared to state that he was willing to take actions that would break parliament’s lobbying rules, highlighting a culture where MPs seem to believe that the rules can either be easily gamed or just ignored. Commons rules mean MPs have to disclose hospitality worth more than £300. The Times’ video hears Benton joking about accepting racing tickets worth £295 to get around the rules. The public should hope that an MP would have the moral compass to reject money from a gambling company rather than give it a leg up.
Benton referred himself to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, a party spokesperson said, and he contacted Commons authorities following the meeting because he was “concerned that what was being asked of me was not within parliamentary rules”.
Paid lobbying by MPs is a rot poisoning our political system. Despite calls for reform, the practice of cash lobbying continues to thrive throughout Westminster, resulting in those we elect and pay sometimes working against the public interest.
In parliament, some argue that lobbying is a natural part of democratic governance. But the involvement of cash raises serious ethical questions. Defenders of lobbying fail to understand or acknowledge that such scandals fuel public distrust in the political system.
Despite regulations such as the Lobbying Act of 2014, our system remains susceptible to corruption and suffers from a lack of transparency. The act requires professional lobbyists to register and disclose their clients, but the scope of the law is limited. It does not cover in-house lobbyists, and MPs and other decision-makers are under no obligation to reveal their meetings with lobbyists or the details of any financial agreements.
Remember the cash for questions affair in the 1990s, which exposed the practice of MPs accepting money to ask parliamentary questions on behalf of paying clients? Or more recently the Greensill Capital scandal, which revealed that former prime minister David Cameron had used his connections to lobby the government after leaving Downing Street on behalf of a now-collapsed financial company?
Change is long overdue. The current rules and regulations are inadequate. Without more stringent measures to ensure transparency, fairness and ethical conduct, we cannot even begin to clean up this corruption.
The True and Fair party, which I lead, is proposing that the Lobbying Act should be expanded to cover in-house lobbyists and include stricter reporting requirements. There should be a comprehensive, mandatory register for lobbyists and decision-makers. This would provide an easily accessible, transparent database for the public to monitor lobbying activities, with detailed information on meetings, financial arrangements and any potential conflicts of interest.
At the same time, MPs should be banned from receiving payment for lobbying via any financial arrangements, or gifts above the value of £50. Similar rules exist for independent financial advisers (IFAs) and fund providers. This would increase accountability and deter unethical behaviour by making it more difficult for cash lobbying to occur behind closed doors.
By establishing an independent lobbying regulator, with the power to investigate and enforce compliance with lobbying regulations, the public would have a watchdog to safeguard against corruption, helping to build and maintain transparency and public trust in the political system.
It is my firm belief that introducing these changes would bring about a significant positive shift in our country’s politics. Ultimately, the scandals of cash lobbying in Westminster can only be fully addressed by changing the culture of our political system.
Gina Miller is a transparency campaigner and leader of the True and Fair party
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
