The Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is soon to be debated in the UK's houses of parliament. I am with Lord Bell in hating this proposal. But what foxes me is the way my great industry is so Guardianista. My every instinct tells me that this is a sophisticated case of shooting, or at least chaining, the messenger.
The Bill seeks to ally fears about allegedly corrupt peers and MPs "exposed" by the media dabbling in lobbying for cash (accusations that mostly did not withstand scrutiny). It is supposed to reassure the public about the roles of people such as Lord Ashcroft in the Tory Party, and institutions such as trade unions in the Labour Party, when it comes to financing them and influencing their policies.
The Bill's supporters claim it will make transparent the (undeniably fuzzy) activities of special political advisers-cum-lobbyists for big business such as Lynton Crosby. Yet this personalises and misconstrues the problem. Crosby-type multiple-cross-purpose consultants exist to fill the gaps created by the dramatic decline of the once mighty civil service. That's another problem altogether.
The problem with this Bill can be partly fathomed from its cumbersome title. It encompasses things which are really separate issues: union, charity, single-issue, individual, business and political lobbying and influence. In the process, the Bill muddles its role just as surely as MPs, lobbyists, business, trade unions and NGOs, sometimes confuse and mismanage theirs.
What I'm advocating is that anybody who supports freedom of expression and association should endorse the views put on BBC Newsnight by Lord Tim Bell and the Tory MP Zac Goldsmith. Bell said no new laws were required to restrict and register lobbying and lobbyists. He mounted a robust defence of the lobbying and PR industry. He defended everybody's right to organise and seek to influence others, including politicians, in a democratic society. Goldsmith said MPs exist to be lobbied. (See video below.)
But according to the prime minister's spokesman the Bill is:
Lobbying law 'would outlaw TUC conference',BBConline
The government has also reassured people that:
This bill does not include campaigning by third parties - charities or other organisations - that are not intended to promote the electoral success of any particular party. So a third party campaigning only on policy issues would be exempt. [ibid]
The Bill's exceptions and limitations have angered the PR industry; at least the PC, wannabe PR professional bodies. Weirdly, the squeaky-clean Guardianista flaks don't think the proposed statutory controls are strict and comprehensive enough. So important chunks of our industry have criticised the government for its "incredibly narrow focus".
Three leading PR industry bodies, Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC), and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), have joined forces to lobby on the matter. They have proposed a definition of lobbying that encompasses all "services" carried out in the course of a business for the purpose of (a) influencing government, or (b) advising others how to influence government.
They are now trying to persuade (ok, and oops, lobby) the government to register more lobbyists than just professional full-time ones working for dedicated lobby bodies on behalf of clients. Instead, they urge it to order the registration of "everyone who seeks to influence public policy and law, with a number of common sense exceptions".
As to their commonsense exceptions, they say the register shouldn't cover journalists who publish information in the course of their profession. The three PR trade bodies also want to protect the relationship between MPs and their constituents. But these exceptions make no sense.
Displaying a surprising naivety about the real world, the PR trade bodies claim "there is a [fundamental] difference between the intention of journalism and the intention of lobbying". But the fourth estate is the mouthpiece of all lobbyists and the biggest and most influential political lobbyist of all. The media are mostly backed financially by big business, trade unions and other interest groups (lobbies) of all sorts on the left and right of politics.
Most people only visit or speak to their MPs when they want to lobby them. Who is to decide when constituents are acting for "others" or "merely" for themselves or for a mixture of both? That's a public and private legal minefield. That's not least because PRCA, APPC and CIPR want to include on the statutory register freelance lobbyists carrying out work pro bono as well as people who may donate or volunteer their time to charities or causes.
Like too many recent government proposals, this one looks like half-baked kite-flying being fanned and made worse by the commentariat. Like too much of the media-clean-up, it looks like making bad new laws instead of enforcing old ones and defending basic freedoms.
We shouldn't give a damn about the lobbying industry. Let it be funded by the devil himself, and covertly if that's what His Satanic Majesty fancies. All that matters is that politicians grow a couple. What messages, and through what messengers, politicians hear about the world is of no importance. It is what our representatives make of what they hear that matters.
As for the rest of us, we should be free to pressurize our politicians and say what we want about what they do and say, whenever we want, without putting our names on a register of lobbyists. Most of all, we should remain free to sweep our politicians aside if need be.
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