THERE have long been concerns about the revolving door between UK politics and private industry.
But the growing links connecting Westminster to the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has to take the biscuit.
As the UK Government rushes to turn the UK into a so-called “AI superpower” – from AI companies taking on public contracts and building hyperscale data centres – a growing list of current and former senior politicians are taking donations, hospitality and even jobs from companies involved in the technology.
None of that, on its own, proves wrongdoing of course.
MPs are allowed outside interests and the parliamentary rules require them to declare any relevant support or connection.
But such is the revolving door in this case that the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is even looking into it.
Alex Sobel, a Labour MP and member of Westminster's joint committee on human rights, which is investigating AI, also said: “I am deeply concerned tech companies may be using their huge buying power to water down much-needed regulation by hiring those who have served at the highest level of previous governments.”
He is talking perhaps about former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who has taken advisory roles with AI firm Anthropic and Microsoft after leaving ministerial office.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), an independent watchdog which oversees the activities of former government figures, noted that the former "has a significant interest in UK Government policy".
They then added that it meant Sunak's appointment could potentially be seen to offer "unfair access and influence".
Sunak was, however, barred from lobbying the Government on Anthropic’s behalf and said his work would be internally focused. He has also said earnings from the roles would be donated to charity.
Then there is former prime minister Tony Blair and his creatively named Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), which is primarily funded by US tech billionaire Larry Ellison alongside tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft.
Such is TBI’s influence, the Treasury even called in Blair’s thinktank earlier this year to guide them on deploying AI across the UK Government.
They weren’t alone. The chair of IBM and senior executives at AI companies including Faculty AI also joined.
Of note, the latter provided a “secondee to provide technical expertise and policy research on AI one day a week” worth £36,000 to Peter Kyle just before the 2024 General Election.
The Labour MP for Hove would then become Tech Secretary and is currently Business Secretary.
But returning to former politicians for a minute, as there are still a few notable ones, let’s start with former Tory chancellor George Osborne.
He has joined OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to lead its international expansion.
Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, previously ran public policy for Meta and is now a prominent AI investor.
Former security minister and current MP Tom Tugendhat also recently took a paid advisory role with Brox.ai – an AI-powered insights platform.
The official advice on his appointment from ACOBA concluded that the risk of the job being perceived as a reward for decisions made in office was low but still imposed restrictions.
For two years from his last day in ministerial office, Tugendhat cannot lobby the UK Government for the company, for example.
In any case, the AI industry and big tech more widely is engaging in a lobbying blitz – with recent reports highlighting how Labour ministers had more than 200 meetings with Silicon Valley firms in less than two years.
The Westminster revolving doors are certainly spinning.
